The Test sent me here?
by Skyla Talon
Summary: Cole Brookstone didn't want to go to the same school as his dad. Not entirely at least. Of course, he also didn't want to go to the so-called mystery school. Life really likes throwing him through hoops apparently. Now he needs to relearn everything that he thought he already knew. Joys of being Gifted.
1. Prologue: The Test

**A/N: Hello! Random idea bouncing in my head. Till me if it's any good. Kind of a Cole-centric fic, sorry about that. Definite AU. Seriously tell me if it's any good, this is just a test to see if anyone will read it… besides Stormyskies8. She reads most of my stories, the only ones she doesn't read is my Power Ranger ones. Uh… yeah. So I'll like go onto the story now…and umm, yeah.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs! (Some I have used before, others are new to me)**

Line Break

Prologue: The Test

 _Once upon a time there was a large country known as Ninjago. Now, no one alive knows why it was named that… actually there is a whole lot that they don't know. For starters, the last week of summer is used to test all freshman to see what their talented in. Which is really important because your talent decides which boarding school you attend. No one knows why this is the way it is, it just is and no one questions it… I think they should question it. They have boarding schools for everything; cooking, singing, dance, security, gardening, sewing, inventing, veterinary, you name it, they had a school for it. They even had an extra school. This one was called the Mystery school, by the public of course; it wasn't the school's actual name. No one knew what they specialized in, since there already was a school for everything else. All they knew was that every year they sent the same two professors to oversee the testing. One was an older lady that looked like she belonged out on the archeological digs, though that couldn't be right since they did have a school for that (Diggs and Bones School for Archeologists), the other was an older man who looked a bit like a mad scientist. He always wore the same lab coat, and had these ridiculous thick glasses. Also, they really get new students. Only a slight problem came up with the test, the older generations knew what to expect. So, they trained and taught the kids how to pass the right tests (the Test is made up of one test from each school… talk about long!) to get into certain jobs. Of course, occasionally a kid will take matters in his or hers own hands and get into the school they want to attend._

 _Which brings us up to date with two best friends who were about to become two mere acquaintances all because of the test. Everyone say hello to Cole Brookstone and Christian Jones!_

Line Break

Cole Brookstone had a HUGE problem. Tomorrow was Test day. HIS Test day. Cole quickly threw several black sweaters into his large suitcase. In two days time, he would be leaving for a boarding school for the next four years. And if his dad had anything to say about it, it would be Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts. The same school his dad had gone to. Cole grimaced at the thought of a career performing on stage. He would much rather be stuck doing something else, anything else.

"Cole!"

Scratch that. It wouldn't be too bad if he had his best friend since preschool with him.

"Hey, Jones!" Cole greeted the gangly teen.

While Cole had a broad built, thick black hair, and deep dark brown eyes, Christian Jones was the exact opposite of him. Tall and skinny, Jones had buzzed short blonde hair and grey eyes that sparkled with life. Bouncing, the teen threw himself on Cole's bed.

"You excited for tomorrow!?" Jones grinned broadly, unaware of how much Cole was dreading the Test.

"Right. I am totally excited to go mix-up a dance move in front of two professional dancers who are judging me to see if I'm good enough to bother sending me to their school." Cole rolled his eyes.

"You forgot, we also have to assemble a fossil, cook something, invent some new gadget, and…" Jones didn't catch the sarcasm in Cole's voice, not till Cole clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Stop it. I was being sarcastic. I… just never been real good with tests before. What if I fail all of them?" Cole flinched as soon as the words were out of his mouth. No one ever failed the tests. It was physically impossible. The only way to fail was if you literally couldn't do anything.

Jones pried his hand off of his mouth. "Come on Cole, that's the nerves talking. Say…what do you think the mystery school's test is? Mom says she can't remember it at all."

Cole snorted at that. Jones was obviously trying to change the subject for his sake. "Come on, I bet they don't really have a test. Or have you not noticed no one seems to remember what the test for them is?" Cole felt slightly weird being the one to point it out. Mainly because no one ever did. But, a fact was a fact. No one ever remembered what the test was.

"Uh… good point Cole. I've got to go. Mom needs me to watch the triplets tonight." Jones glanced down at his wristwatch.

Cole fought the urge to flinch, wondering if the real reason Jones liked him was because he was an only child, and didn't need to share his room with a younger brother. "Bye Jones. See you tomorrow."

"Bye! See ya at the testing grounds!" Jones happily declared as he slipped out of the room.

"Right… the testing grounds." Cole picked up his pair of lucky orange socks and immediately wondered if he should pack them now, or wear them to the test.

Groaning, Cole fell back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The minutes ticked by as he lay there doing nothing. Finally, the door creaked open as Lou Brookstone stuck his head into the doorway.

"There you are! Come on! I ordered pizza!" Silence fell like a thick blanket, smothering the famous dancer. "Cole? You alive in there?"

"Yeah… just give me a minute Dad." Cole rolled over to his side, so that he was facing his father.

Lou looked his son over. The two of them looked enough like each other, that complete strangers have asked if Cole was Lou's younger brother. Something that irked Cole like nothing else. Ok, either his dad or Jones mentioning his fear of dragons was even more annoying than that.

"You nervous about the Test tomorrow?" Lou sat down next to his son.

Cole sat up, wrapping his arms around his legs quickly. "What do you think Dad? I am just not ready to leave you alone for four years." Cole immediately bit his bottom lip as he realized he probably said too much.

"This is about your mother, isn't it?" Lou frowned at his son, worried about how Cole always brushes everything off as concern for Lou. Ever since his wonderful Rocky passed away in that horrid car accident…Cole seemed unwillingly to let Lou out of his sight.

"Mom…wouldn't want you to be alone Dad. I think we _both_ know this." Cole gave Lou a pointed look.

"You're right. But I'm not alone. I have a wonderful son who will keep in touch with me, and my quartet." Lou squeezed Cole's shoulder.

Cole looked down at his lap, his fingers twitching from nerves. Maybe…it was a long shot, but when will Cole get the chance again? "Dad, can I ask you a question? About Mom?"

"Sure thing. Go right ahead Cole." Lou paused before looking away, his voice suddenly much softer, "She would want you to know whatever you like about her."

Cole smiled briefly, before frowning, worried about the answer. "Which School did Mom go to?"

Lou started, before looking at Cole, surprise flashing across his face. "She went to the Mystery School."

Cole gasped in surprise, his mind reeling. THAT school?! What was the test?! Cole rubbed his forehead, struggling to wrap his mind around this new information. Just then the doorbell sang (yes sang, Lou and his quartet made their own ringtone for his doorbell) alerting them that the pizza delivery man had arrived with their pizza.

Standing up, Lou hurried down to answer the door, giving Cole one last squeeze. As soon as he was gone, Cole flopped back down onto his pillow, worry creasing his brow. It could just be a coincidence. A coincidence that the school his mom had attended was the same one that plagued him at night in his nightmares. Besides that, everyone knew that there was no such thing as fate, or destiny. It is just coincidences.

"Cole! Come down here for dinner!"

Yeah. Just coincidences. No such thing as fate, dragons, or people who can spin so fast they look like tornadoes.

…

Cole gasped as he snapped awake, his heart thudding loudly in his chest. He just had the dream again where he had been accepted into the Mystery School…and they expected him to fly on top of an actual dragon. Completely crazy, but he just couldn't shake it. Rolling over, he glanced at the time and realized that he had two hours before he had to get up and ready for the Test. He quickly ran his hand through his hair, wondering if things would be a lot simpler if they didn't have the Test. Groaning, he turned back over in hopes of finding some more sleep. Today was going to be a long day.

…

Jones bounced excitedly as they dodged through the crowd trying to find where they were supposed to go to check in. Finally, they found the booth where they were to check in at. After finding and marking off their names, they half-listened to the rules of the Test. Walking away, they found a small bench to sit on next to each other. Twiddling his thumbs, Cole wished that Jones would just say something while they waited for their names to be called. Cole looked over the large area full of all the fourteen year olds in all of Ninjago. Swallowing hard, he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he was in the middle of a sea of kids his age, and that the hundreds of tents had each had two professors and one kid in it. Groaning suddenly, he turned to face Jones.

"You are never this quiet. Please say something!"

"Something." Jones bluntly repeated.

"Wait…what!?" Cole blinked, confusion wiggling its way into his voice.

"You said please say something. So, I said something." Jones sniggered at his brilliancy.

"Jones!" Cole whined just as the loud speakers clicked on.

"Will Christian Jones please report to Tent B. I repeat. Will Christian Jones please report to Tent B."

Jones gulped loudly and visibly as he stood up. Cole didn't like seeing his usually positive friend so down in the dumps and tried to cheer him up a bit. "You've got this Jones! Go get them!"

"Thanks. You go get them when it's your turn to." Jones whispered softly, before hurrying off to find the tent he was needed at.

"Will Cole Brookstone please report to Tent A. I repeat. Will Cole Brookstone please report to Tent A."

Cole suddenly wondered where Jones got the strength to proceed to Tent B. His legs had turned to jell-o. Not the good kind either. Swallowing hard, Cole quickly made his way to the tent. From now till who knows when, he was taking the test.

…

Cole nursed his arm as he weaved his way to Tent Z. The last of the tents. No one was allowed near the tent until they finished the rest of the tests. It was the one tent that represented the same school every year. The mystery school. As he approached, surprise filled him upon noticing the large group of teens hanging around it.

"Cole!" Well, at least Jones was here.

"Hey Jones. What's up with the hold up?" Cole greeted his old friend.

"Uh? Oh! That! Yeah. Apparently, the test for this one they do two at a time. And you have to be called in." Jones bounced slightly, excited to be so close to learning what the mystery test was.

Cole absently nodded his head. Not wanting to ruin his friend's excitement. Taking a test without preparing for it seemed too unconventional for his liking. Of course that probably explained why hardly any one passes it. Cole quickly pushed his new nagging thought about how his late mother had passed this part of the Test. Just then the tent flap flew open and two teens, a boy and a girl that Cole had never seen before, came out, and was followed by the professors. Cole looked over at them, and decided that it wouldn't be long before they retired. The lady had long gray hair which was tightly braided and green eyes, and the man had white hair, and dim grey eyes.

"Christian Jones?" The man called out suddenly.

Jones hurried over to follow him into the tent. The lady coughed before reading the name she had out loud. "Cole Brookstone?"

Cole dragged his feet over to her. She only acknowledged him with a quick nod of her head. He soon found himself standing in…the smallest of all the tents. There was a wood burning stove sitting in the corner with an antique teapot sitting on top of it, and a table with two chairs. There was also a small desk in a corner with two chairs next to it. And a pile of papers on top of the desk. There were also two quills and a pot of ink sitting on the table. Puzzled, Cole and Jones watched the man sit two pieces of the parchment down on the table, one in front of each chair.

"Please take a seat. We have some…soothing tea for you to take. We believe it will improve test scores. Once you finish the tea, go ahead and start the test. Each answer must be in a complete sentence." The man shot his co-worker a funny look when he mentioned the tea. She merely gave him a quick nod, before pouring two mugs.

Her movement brought a small wash basin to Cole's attention, allowing him to know how they wash the mugs between tests. Quickly accepting the mug, Cole downed the warm liquid. Surprise flickered through him upon realizing it tasted like warmed honey water, with a hint of mint. Handing the empty mug back, he sat down and flipped the parchment over to start the written test.

 _Do you have any relatives or ancestors that you know of that went to this school?_

 _ **Yes, my mother attended this school.**_

 _What was their full name?_

 _ **Her full name was Rochelle Rebecca Mason Brookstone.**_

 _Have you any strange dreams that keep repeating themselves, involving this school? If so, what was happening?_

 _ **Yes. I can't remember much, just that there were dragons, men who could spin so fast that they looked like tornados, and the fact I was there.**_

 _Have you ever questioned why we have the Test? Please keep your answer to one word._

 _ **Yes.**_

Cole paused briefly as he realized the strangeness about this test. What kind of school needed to know all of this? Shaking his head, he quickly filled out the last ten questions, which were about mundane school problems (math, science, and of course, history). Cole sat his quill down as he looked over the last of the problems. He most likely had failed them. He didn't know anything about warring tribes, or how to fix a hydrogenerator. That and the three math problems made no sense, and were too complicated for him to answer. He hoped they wouldn't dock too many points for writing 'I don't know' for those questions.

"Time's up. You may go home and finish packing for tomorrow. Be back here with your families at six thirty p.m. tomorrow." The lady suddenly snatched the papers off of the table.

Cole and Jones quickly jumped up and left the room, feeling dizzy and relieved that the Test was finally over for them. Now they just had to wait for tomorrow for the results. Results that will depict the rest of their lives…

…

Lou tightened his grip on Cole's shoulder as they stood in the large clearing that was quickly filling up with anxious parents and soon to be high school students. Cole glanced sideways at Jones who actually looked nervous. He was with the Brookstones instead of his own family due to the fact Mr. Jones was still in the hospitable, and Mrs. Jones couldn't leave the triplets unattended. Thankfully, the announcements of Test results were always recorded live on TV.

The governor, leader of all Ninjago, stepped onto the stage with the same professors from the day before filing in behind him. A large round of applause erupted from everyone has the crowd cheered loudly.

Throwing his hands into the air, the governor waited for the crowd to quiet down patiently. "Today, we are gathered to learn which schools our young ones shall attend! When I say you name come forward, and I will tell you what the Test told us." Dropping his hands, he pulled out a tablet that had been programmed with the Test results for every kid. "First up! Jane Moor!" A girl that Cole barely recognized as the same one that finished the Test right before him ran up to the stage. "InvenTori Academy!" A smattering of applause at the announcement, the two professors from the school nodding to her in greeting. "James Moor!" Same boy that was with her doing the Test. "Culinary Arts University!" Another smattering of applause. "Zane Julian!" A boy that was standing by himself, with stiff looking white hair, and icy blue eyes, approached nervously, eyes darting over to look at the two Mystery School professors. "The Mystery School!" Murmurs of surprise rippled through the crowd. It was rare for someone to get that school. Cole couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed relieved about that announcement. Moving quickly, he went over and hugged the male professor, who quickly whispered something in his ear. "Anthony Wheels!"

Cole decided that he could just tune him out till he called either his name, or Jones'. Hours crept by of Cole looking and watching everyone ran up to be told which one of the boarding school will be their home for the next four years. Suddenly, the governor yelled out one of the two names he was waiting for. "Christian Jones!" Jones slipped past him quietly, scurrying to the stage. Cole quickly glanced over to the professors, recalling how you could typically tell how one did on the Test by how confident they appeared that you would be in their school. A smile crossed his face as he realized that the dance instructors from Lou's old school were the most confident. "Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts!" Jones did a happy leap in the air before running over to the professors, who just nodded at him. "Cole Brookstone!" Cole gulped as he realized that it was his turn to go up there. Moving quickly he walked up there, scanning the faces of the professors. Puzzlement slipped through upon realizing that the dance instructors were confident, but so were the Mystery School representatives. Stopping in front of the governor, Cole waited patiently for his results. "The Mystery School!" An extra loud gasp could be heard at that declaration. Cole went wide eyed with shock, a quick glance telling him that the dance instructors went expecting it either.

"There has to be a mistake! Cole got a hundred percent on our section of the Test!" one of the professors protested.

"I guess now would be a bad time to tell you he got a hundred and ten percent on ours." The female professor from the Mystery School announced, looking highly amused.

Her companion rolled his eyes at her, but didn't say anything. Cole however felt confused. He didn't know all the answers. He even told them that with the answers he wrote down. How could he have scored so high?

"Cole? We need you to head out back to our bus, as is tradition. Zane is standing next to it." It took Cole a few seconds to realize that the male professor was talking to him.

"Sorry." Cole whispered as he hurried out to the bus parking lot.

As he had been told, Zane stood next to the bus. A very interesting bus. Instead of being the school colors with the school name on the sides, it was gold with multiple colors splashed onto it. There was no name. Cole swallowed hard as he spotted Jones waving him over to the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts bus. Cole quickly looked away as he approached the mystery bus. Zane wasn't by himself. He had a few others with him. Two boys and a girl that looked too young to be fourteen. One boy had light brown hair and electric blue eyes, the other had spiked auburn hair and hazel eyes. The girl had short cropped black hair and hazel eyes; she looked similar to spiked hair, probably related. Cole glanced over to see Jones arms drop as he stared at him in shock. Cole looked away again, pretending to examine the bus.

"Does anyone here know the actual name of the school we're going to?" Cole honestly didn't expect an answer.

"Yes. Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted." Zane stated calmly in an monotone voice.

Startled, Cole stared at him. It was the boy with electric blue eyes that spoke up next. "How do you know that?"

"My father, Dr. Julian, is one of the professors. We were worried I wouldn't get in. Thus why he hugged me when I did." Zane didn't lose the monotone voice at all during the whole time he spoke.

Cole quickly looked away again as anger surged through him. Zane probably spent his entire life studying that particular test. Though, the statement about getting in probably meant that Zane struggled with the Test. Cole felt a small pang as he realized that Zane could have been like him and nearly sent to another school. Only it would be one that Zane had no connection to, instead of his dad wanted him to go there…

 **A/N: Done! Whoa…Times New Roman Format, font size Twelve, and NINE PAGES!? Wow…just wow. Ok. Please let me know if I should actually continue this or not!**

 **The Test for the 'Mystery School' is not the actual questions. Those were just random. It was whether or not you could READ the test. As Cole is going to find out soon, the whole thing was written in their ancestors' language which by now is forgotten by everyone and looks like chicken scratch. The tea doesn't do anything… in fact; the tea really was warmed honey water with crushed mint leaves soaked into it to throw people off guard. They were going with the power of the mind there.**

 **Cole's mother's name in this is Rochelle Rebecca Mason, who married Lou Brookstone. She was known as Rocky for short, and was…well, you will learn that later. She died in a tragic car crash when Cole was really young, making him close to his father and not wanting to leave for boarding school. Still went, kind of can't break the law.**

 **Also I realized that Jones is an awful lot like Jay… interesting. Nya is thirteen in this one, but she skipped a grade so she gets to do the Test with Kai.**

 **See ya!**

 **SkyTalon**


	2. Chapter 1: First Day

**A/N: I'm a back! I know that is improper grammar…I'm not gonna change it. So, who wants to meet Lloyd?! Seriously, that's next in the story. Ok, first day at a school for teens with super powers without any powers is next. But Lloyd is in it! Yeah…I wasn't buying that either.**

 **Uh…Hi RandomDragon2.0! Glad you like this so far! Hope you like this chapter to.**

 **Ooh! Another thing! I prefer reviews over follows and favorites. I mean, I like those too, but reviews are what I go back to frequently to feel inspired to continue writing…so PLEASE REVIEW! (Reviews where you are talking to the characters are the best in my opinion) Also… The middle names for all but Lloyd are of my own invention.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs!**

Chapter One: First Day of School

Cole woke with a start, his eyes snapping open. He was lying in the bottom bunk of a wire frame bunk bed. It had a rather firm mattress that truthfully felt like it was made out of cardboard; it also had a limp grey pillow, and a scratchy brownish-grey blanket thrown over him. Groaning, Cole rolled over to stare across the room, at the other bunk bed in the room. He could see Zane sleeping on the bottom bunk, cradling his pillow. Spiked hair was sleeping in the bunk above Zane, his arm dangling. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Cole looked around the room some more. He could see two doors, one closed tightly, the other slightly ajar to let him see it was a bathroom. He could also see that the closet was wide open. Interestingly enough, despite the fact he couldn't remember anything about the night before, all of their hang-ups were neatly organized into the closet. As well as what appeared to be the hang-ups for some little kid. Standing up, Cole looked around the room…and immediately spotted said kid, with messy blonde hair flopped over his eyes, sleeping in a wire frame twin bed that appeared to be designed to be just like the bunk beds. A hundred percent uncomfortable for all those who bother to sleep on it. Cole glanced at the top bunk bed above him to see the last of the boys in his new class dozing quietly…while kissing his pillow.

Cole slowly backed away, just in case the strangeness was contagious. Turning, he noticed that each end of the bed had a trunk pushed up against it, including the top bunks. Those trunks were sitting on wire shelves that were attached to the bed, and had thick metal poles running down to the floor. Interested in that, and being way too nervous to sleep, Cole examined his trunk, surprise flashing through him upon noticing that it was black with mountains, boulders, and mountains with boulders crashing down them, decorating it. It also had his name. His FULL name; Cole Mason Brookstone. Startled, Cole decided to see if it was like that for all of them. So, he did the logical thing and looked to Zane's trunk. It was white with ice shards crisscrossing it. The name on it was Zane Andrew Julian. Now really interested in what the trunks claimed his roommates names where. Turning, he quickly read the guy that was kissing his pillow name. Jay Alexander Walker. The trunk was electric blue with lightning bolts zigzagging across it. Glancing over, he checked spiked hair's trunk. It was red with flames dancing across it. The name on it was Kai Wu Smith. Wondering if the kid also had a trunk, he turned to look over there. Sure enough he did have his own trunk. It was green with gold stripes. The name was Lloyd Montogomery Garmadon.

Humming to himself, Cole sat back down on his bed and was about to go back to sleep, when a loud noise reverberated through the building. The noise really was the sound of a gong being used, but gongs hadn't been used in a hundred or so years, so Cole didn't know this. Loud yelps escaped Jay and Kai, has they promptly fell out of bed. Zane was much more composed than them as he stretched luxuriously before climbing out of bed. Cole clapped his hand over his ears, trying to block the noise out.

"What is that?!" Jay screeched over the noise.

"It is the gong. Sensei Wu uses it to wake the students to start the day. If memory serves correctly, we must hurry if we want to make it on time to the Annual Start of the Year Assembly." Zane calmly announced as he quickly pulled a white and gray sweater out of the closet, before opening his trunk and pulling out jeans and socks.

Cole quickly gathered his own wardrobe choice for the day, wondering if the mysterious Sensei Wu even knew what time of day it was…five thirty a.m. After a brief inner debate, Cole threw his watch off, not really wanting it to remind him how early they were getting up for the _day_.

…

Cole shifted slightly, glancing nervously at the others. The five of them were standing up on the steps into the school, in front of the entire school body. The entire staff, which he couldn't but note was kinda small, stood next to them. The lady from the testing grounds was introducing each staff member. First there was Dr. Julian, who apparently taught both, math and science. Then there was Lord Garmadon, he was an older man; wrinkles and white hair, wore an old gi with a staff in his right hand. He taught P.E., Flight Aviation, and aided with something called Power Training. Cole vaguely wondered if the kid was related to him. Then she introduced herself, Misako Garmadon; she was their history and their Literature teacher. Then there were two teachers for our Random class; Ms. Powers, a young lady with short cut brown hair and green eyes, and Mr. Powell, a middle age man with red hair and blue eyes. She also introduced the school psychiatrist; a middle aged man with black hair that was just starting to turn white named Neuro. Finally, she pointed to the last of the staff members. He was an elderly man with a long white beard and mustache, brown eyes with gold flecks in them, and a staff in his right hand.

"Please give a room welcome to our principle…Sensei Wu!" Misako stepped to the side, allowing Sensei Wu to take over.

"It's so good to see so many familiar faces!" Sensei Wu looked over the crowd, a warm smile on his face. "Now I am sure you all are excited to meet the new students as much as I am, so without further ado, lets welcome them to Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted!" Sensei lifted both hands up, to a rather large smattering of applause. "Now then, when I call you name, you just step forward so everyone can see you and tell me what your power is. Understood?" He turned to face the new students.

Cole immediately felt panic blooming in his chest. He didn't have any powers! A quick look at his fellow freshmen told him that they had the same dilemma about that detail. Jay nervously leaned forward, worry dancing in his eyes.

"What does he mean by that? And does anyone here know someone in real life that has actual super powers?" Jay hissed quickly to us.

"This is why Father and I had a hard time believing I could get in. I never manifested any powers, of any kind. That, and Neuro is a telepath. He can read our minds." Zane responded in an actual worried tone.

"We knew about the power thing, since both of our parents attended here. But we never manifested any of our own." Kai whispered to them, glancing over at the only girl in the group, who nodded her head in agreement.

"So…what I'm hearing is that the Test goofed, and instead of sending us to a school where we will excel at…it sent us here to a school where the entire student body has some kind of super natural ability making them more like the characters in our comic books?" Cole drily asked as he leaned into the conversation.

"Basically…how do we tell them that apparently all five of us do not have any special abilities?" Zane asked nervously, twisting his hands together.

"You don't. Everyone can hear your conversation." Heads snapping up, they found themselves looking at the amused Sensei Wu. "Anyway…first up is Cole Brookstone!" Cole bit back a groan and stepped forward. "Jay Walker!" Jay quickly joined him. "Kai Smith!" Kai stepped up next to Jay. "Nya Smith!" Nya slipped next to Kai, her fingers grasping his hand. "And finally, Dr. Julian's own son, Zane Julian!" Zane moved stiffly to the other side of Cole.

There wasn't much warmth coming off of the student body as they muttered amongst themselves. Cole was pretty sure he heard someone say that they wouldn't last a day here. Cole clenched his fist as he decided that he was so going to prove them wrong, right after breakfast.

"Everyone pair up! It's time for P.E.!" Sensei Wu barked out suddenly, gesturing for Lord Garmadon to take the stage.

Cole really did groan this time as he realized that he had to wait for his breakfast.

…

Zane pulled Cole back up onto his feet as the rest of the school filed past the freshmen. Kai was rubbing his arm, as if it were sore, while Nya was limping up to them. Jay was still lying sprawled on the ground, face first. Slowly, and stiffly, pushing himself up, Jay turned to face them.

"I think the others are right… we're not cut out for this. I mean, come on! We haven't made it to breakfast yet and we're already making fools of ourselves!" Jay whined, reminding Cole strongly of Jones.

~ _Flashback_ ~

" _No! Mommy don't go!" a four year old Cole clutched the skirt of a grown lady with near pitch black hair, and Cole's deep dark brown eyes._

 _Fingers' tugging at her son's persistent clinging; she smiled warmly down at him. "Now Cole…preschool will be good for you. You can make lots of friends here. Ok?"_

" _No! I don't wanna go to preschool! I wanna stay with you, Mommy!" Cole bawled loudly, tears running down his face._

" _Bye Mommy! Don't worry about me! I'm gonna have fun…hey! What's your name?" A four year old Jones suddenly walked into the classroom, followed by a lady carrying three babies in her arms._

" _This is Cole. He doesn't want to go to class apparently." Cole's mother told the little boy, while Cole buried his face in her skirt._

" _That's just silly! Mommy says that preschool is full of kids that can actually play with me. My name is Christian. But I don't like it. I prefer my last name. It's Jones. Come on! You can be my best friend!" Jones grabbed Cole by the hand and dragged him away from his mother._

 _That was the last time Cole would ever see his mother…_

~ _End Flashback_ ~

"Hey! Earth to Cole! You in there?" Kai waved his hand in front of Cole's face.

"Knock it off Kai. Come on, we better get to breakfast." Cole brushed the dust of his clothes; a frown forming as he realized it didn't came off with his brushing.

"Why bother? It would be faster for us to just pack our bags." Nya grumbled, folding her scratched up arms in annoyance.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone that is except Cole. Now then, to this very day, Cole has no idea what possessed him to do it. He just did it. Without any thought either.

"No. That is what our fellow schoolmates want us to do. We stay. The Test sent us here for a reason. Maybe if we stay we can find out why it did that. But if we leave…others will start questioning the Test. Now then, who's hungry?!" Cole spun around and started heading inside.

After awhile the other new kids followed suit, realizing Cole had a point. They couldn't give the student body what they wanted. Because the Test wanted something else from them entirely…

…

Cole slid carefully into his seat, Jay next to him. It was time for their history class, which was one of the classes broken up by grade. He could do with an all freshman P.E. class though. Maybe then they wouldn't fail so epically in front of everyone. Sparring with a junior by the name of Chamille was not fun at all. Cole felt a sharp nudge in the side as Zane tilted his head towards the chalkboard at the front of the room. _The True History of Ninjago_ was written in cursive across the board. Cole wondered what that meant. Pushing this to the back of his mind, he pulled out a notebook and pencil, glad that the second class of the day was a subject that he already knew pretty well.

Misako strolled into the room, carrying several ancient artifacts…that looked nothing like the ancient artifacts in museums. "Good morning class! I hope you're ready to learn today. I have prepared my favorite lesson for today." Misako beamed at them as she carefully laid out the artifacts on her desk. "Today's lesson is on the First Spinjitzu Master and how he created our beautiful world."

Cole felt like the world had stopped spinning. None of his teachers growing up said anything about a First Spinjitzu Master creating Ninjago…it was always evolution! Apparently he wasn't the only one thrown off course.

"Wait! Our teachers told that was just a legend!" Kai cried out in alarm, glancing over to Nya, who looked just as in shock.

"Indeed, while I was homeschooled, I ended up researching our history myself… and everything stated that it was just a legend." Zane spoke in his monotone voice, much to Cole's annoyance.

"Ok…this just means we're gonna have to learn something new. Something new that proves that everything we have learned growing up may or may not be true…" Jay slunk low into his seat.

…

Cole stared down at his notes trying to will them to memory like Misako told them to. "I give up. Zane? What's next on our schedule?"

Zane tilted his head back, thinking back on the schedule that had been passed out during breakfast. "Next is Flight Aviation. I am afraid I do not know what that means. Kai, Nya, your folks appear to be rather comfortable telling you about the school. Perchance you can shed some light on the subject?"

Kai immediately snorted. "Dad said something about dragons."

Nya quickly shrugged, worry creasing her brow. "Mom didn't like the class. Preferred it when they did swimming for their Random Class." Kai shuddered at the mention of swimming, displeasure flashing across his face.

"Ok then… well, we can cross the dragon thing off. They're not real." Cole felt a brief bout of confidence surge through him.

Jay, who had sprinted up ahead, suddenly skidded to a halt. "Guys! Hurry it up! They have real dragons in here!"

"What?!" They all ran up to catch up with him.

Sure enough, Lord Garmadon was standing next to four dragons; one white, one red, one brown, and one blue, gently stroking them while talking to the kid from the dorm room. Unfortunately, Cole took that time to scream like a little girl and almost fainted on the spot.

"Cole! There ain't anything to be afraid of! They're harmless! See?" Lord Garmadon grabbed Cole's hand and helped him pet one of the dragons.

This time Cole really did faint from the fear.

…

Cole folded his arms has he sat down in the back of the classroom. After ensuring Neuro that he was completely fine, and then doing the same thing with Sensei Wu, he was finally released from the medbay to go to his next class. Science. How hard could it be?

"Hello there! As I am sure Zane told you, I am Dr. Julian." Dr. Julian smiled warmly at them. "Today for our lesson, we will be learning how to disarm killer robots."

There goes easy. Cole was just starting to think that their new teachers like proving them wrong.

…

Cole limped into the large sitting room area that they were told their next class was to be in. Thing was, the class was called _Random_. Cole just hoped that their teachers would go easy on them, since they were all covered in laser burns and pretty much beat up all around. Ms. Powers stood in the center of the room, waiting for them, holding a clipboard.

"Come in, come in! Welcome to Random Class. This course will cover the basics in all kinds of other subjects you may need to know if you ever go undercover." Ms. Powers smiled warmly at them. Cole wondered what that all entitled. "Today we will be learning about Janitorial duties."

Jay leaned close to Cole. "Whoa…that kind of sounds like we will be cleaning the school."

Cole started to laugh, only for Ms. Powers to interrupt. "That's because we are cleaning the school. The best way for anyone to learn these skills is by doing them. Now gather around so I can give you your assignments!" Cole decided that he really didn't like how cheerful Ms. Powers was about cleaning the entire school.

…

"Finally! _Done!_ It will be too soon if I never see another toilet cleanser again!" Jay exclaimed as he pulled his rubber gloves off, trudging after the others.

Cole stifled a snigger as he walked into the courtyard that was bathed in the low glow of sunset. Cole grimaced as he realized that he still had another class to go through before dinner. And all the other schools were eating by now, students mentally going over their homework. Cole didn't have that privilege just yet. He still had to go through Power Training with the entire student body…without any powers himself. It wasn't long before Lord Garmadon and Sensei Wu walked out to face the student body.

"Right for those of you that are new here…or just forgot the drill." There was a sudden cough of Dareth at that statement. "…when I call your name; you are to use your powers to get through this obstacle course. The faster you do this, the better the grade." Sensei Wu spoke up loudly as he addressed the crowd. "Karlof!"

"Paleman!"

"Griffin!"

"Ash!"

"Gravis!"

"Bolobo!"

"Jacob!"

"Tox!"

"Shade!"

"Chamille!"

"Skylor!"

"Dareth!"

Cole gulped as he watched the last of the older students blew through the course. Something told him that was not gonna happen with any of them, when it was their turn.

Lord Garmadon turned to face them suddenly; concern flashing across his face upon seeing Cole was there. "Zane!"

Zane swallowed hard before taking on the course…which through him out within seconds.

"Jay!" Same thing happened.

"Kai!" Kai lasted in even less time than the others.

"Nya!" Cole looked away as he realized he was the last one to go the course.

"Cole!"

Swallowing extra hard, he limped over to the course, eyeing it nervously. This was not gonna end well.

…

Cole pushed his peas around his plate, grimacing slightly. Dinner had been made by Mr. Powell's all seniors Random Class. Which was fine, the problem was that Cole ached like crazy. And he still needed to write an essay about how the First Spinjitzu Master created the world, write five paragraphs about why it was important to know which cleanser to use when cleaning toilets, and list ten ways to disarm killer robots. Not to mention he had to read up on what he missed in Flight Aviation class.

Yeah…really lost his appetite.

…

"Night guys." Kai jumped up into his bed, trying to ignore how two of their teachers, Misako and Lord Garmadon, were tucking the kid into bed.

"Night Kai." Cole collapsed onto his bed, suddenly realizing why they had such uncomfortable beds.

He was too tired to care by the end of the day.

 **A/N: Soo, yeah. Really hard day for the first day at school… and why don't our favorite ninjas have powers?! Also…did I get a budding friendship amongst them? I mean, they are still practically strangers, but they are literally doing everything together.**

 **Cole missed a class on his first day because he just had to faint. He really wasn't expecting the dragons though, so we can't blame him for that.**

 **Ok...the site not updating last night actually helped me a bit. I forgot what Misako's second class was. And Dareth's turn to go through the obstacle course.**

 **SkyTalon**


	3. Chapter 2: The First Weekend

**A/N: Hello! So, time to torture Cole some more…**

 **Cole: Wait, what?**

 **Me: What are you doing here!? Get out! I need to write the fact you're failing Flight Aviation!**

 **Cole: I'm failing a class?!**

 **Kai: Wow… you must not be very bright. From what I remember that class was easy. All we did was discussed how to tell the different dragons apart, and how to tell the gender since they take great offense if you mix that up.**

 **Me: Kai? You two? Are all the ninjas here?**

 **Zane: I am afraid Lloyd and Nya are not here. Also, why is Jay's mouth taped shut?**

 **Jay: Hmmhmmhmhmhmhmhm!**

 **Me: Knew he was being too quiet. Eh. He can stay that way for awhile. That, and Cole is TERRIFIED of dragons. Everyone out so that I can torture him some more.**

 **Cole: Can you stop saying 'torture'. It's getting on my nerves.**

 **Me: *pretends to think about it* Nope. You're gonna get tortured.**

 **Cole: Zane! Protect me!**

 ***I smile evilly at Zane, who then gulps in fear.* Zane: I am afraid you're on your own Cole.**

 **Cole: Kai?**

 **Kai: I want to see where this goes.**

 **Cole: Traitor. Jay? A little help please?**

 **Jay: Hmhmhmhmhm!**

 **Me: Sorry Cole. You're on your own this time. Also, out! *throws the ninja out the window***

 **Phew. Sorry about that. Not entirely sure what the ninja were up to. Anyways! *thinks of hyper, super talkative bunnies* Uh… ok then. *clears throat* I do not own Ninjago in any way, shape or form. But I do own my OCs! Also, the school motto is something I've heard somewhere…but I can't remember where exactly. It also is** _ **VERY**_ **important!**

Chapter Two: The First Weekend

Cole slowly blinked his eyes open, surprised to realize that for once he felt well rested. Stretching, Cole glanced at his watch for the time…and almost fainted in horror. It was eight thirty a.m. He had slept in by four hours. Panicked, he leapt out of bed, only to bang his head on the bottom of the top bunk. The loud thud that was a result of his head hitting the bed ended up waking up all of his roommates. Including the kid.

"Cole! Are you alright?" Zane looked over at Cole, concern flashing through his icy blue eyes.

"I'm a fine." Cole muttered as he rubbed the top of his head, wincing at the bump that had already formed.

"Umm, guys? I think we slept in. It's way too light outside for it to be five thirty." Kai leaned across the edge of his bed, unfazed that it was the top bunk, and what he was doing was highly dangerous.

Panic promptly erupted as they tripped over themselves trying to get ready for the day. Lloyd stared in surprise at them, his mouth hanging open in a small 'o'. Tripping over Jay's school bag, Cole looked over at the only none high schooler in the entire school. Just has Lloyd decided that the scene was funny and started giggling like mad.

"What's so funny, Kid?" Cole grumbled as he reached for his shoe that somehow ended up underneath the kid's bed.

"You're acting as if you have to be somewhere or something." Lloyd giggled as he clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the giggles.

"We have school. Which started four hours ago." Jay announced, as he grabbed his bag from underneath Cole, sending him toppling.

"No, it didn't."

"Yes, it did!" Kai exclaimed, annoyed that the kid seemed to think they didn't have school.

"No, it didn't. It's Saturday. No school today or tomorrow. Time to do your homework, clean the dorms. Laundry. You name it." Lloyd rolled his eyes at them. "Also, you can play video games!" He got really excited about that part.

Cole stopped fighting his shoe to stare at the kid. Make that, they all stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Lloyd sniggered again, noticing the various states that they were all in. Zane was wearing his shirt backwards, and had one sock on, and the other dangling in his hands. Jay was in the process of brushing his teeth, and actually had toothpaste dribbling down. Kai was frozen in place, with a bottle of hair gel turned upside down above his head, a comb posed to spike his hair. Cole was mostly put together; he just had to get his shoes on…and was trying to put his left shoe on his right foot. After slowly blinking at him for a few seconds, they went back to getting ready for the day. This time without the chaos. Cole and Zane quickly caught their mistakes and fixed them. Awkwardly, they headed out to the study that they shared with Nya that was part of their dorm. Nya was already up and dressed and had five plates of scrambled eggs and toast sitting out on the table. There were also five glasses of orange juice. Nya was reading a romance novel, her feet tucked under her legs.

"Misako had me bring you guys' breakfast down for you. Eat up." Nya gestured vaguely to the plates.

Mumbling their thanks, the boys fell upon the plates, devouring everything on the plates. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Kai looked up at Nya.

"So…do you have any plans for today?" Kai reached for his glass of orange juice.

"Sure… email Mom and Dad, like we promised them that we will do." Nya looked up from her book, eyebrow arching up slightly.

"Ok… um. I did all my homework yesterday cause I forgot today was Saturday." Kai gulped the juice down within seconds.

"What about your room? I highly doubt it's clean. And Lord Garmadon did announce that they will be doing a room inspection sometime today." Nya sat her book down to the side, not really liking how the main female character needed help all the time.

"According to my calculations, it should take all of us about five minutes to clean the room. _If_ no one gets distracted." Zane gave Jay a good hard, extremely pointed, look.

"Ok, I get it. No distractions. Consider it done." Jay held his buttery hands up in surrender.

Lloyd snorted as he downed his glass, watching the teens talk with each other. He still had a hard time believing that before this school year started, only Nya and Kai knew each other. They all were complete strangers.

"What should we do after we clean our room though?" Cole pointed out the fact that they still had an entire day ahead of them, with nothing planned to do.

Silence fell as they chewed on their breakfast and thoughts, trying to figure out something that they could do. "Cole's grade." All heads snapped up as they turned to stare at Nya.

"What do you mean my grade?" Cole asked nervously, wondering why Nya would say that. He was doing as well as the others. By that, he was barely passing at the moment.

"Your Flight Aviation grade. At the moment, you have an F. Since you keep fainting every time you go anywhere near the dragons." Nya pointed out, stretching her legs out to keep them from cramping.

"Then it is decided. After we clean our room, we see if we can't help Cole get over his fear of dragons." Zane stretched as he stood up, having already finished eating.

Cole immediately groaned. "Do you guys _want_ to torture me or something?"

"Wait…can we go to the dragon pens when we don't have a class?" Kai questioned.

"Sure you can. You just have to ask Uncle first." Lloyd bounced in his seat, excited to be of some help.

"Really? Is he Lord Garmadon?" Jay asked, curiosity about the relationship between the teacher and kid quickly surfacing.

"No. He's my dad. My uncle is the principle." Lloyd wiggled in his seat.

"Ah yes. I recall that you were always running off during school hours while growing up to be with your father down by the pens." Zane nodded in agreement, reminding everyone there that he was raised in the school too.

"Well, do you know where Sensei Wu is?" Jay asked as he stands up from the table.

"Should be in his study. Course Mom calls it his tea room." Lloyd wrinkled his nose.

"Why does she call it that?" Kai asked even as Cole once again spoke up against this idea. "Do you guys seriously hear yourselves? We're talking dragons here! Snap out of it! This is torture you're talking about!"

"Uncle _really_ likes his tea." Lloyd headed to the door that lead out to the hallway.

"Is anyone listening to me?" Cole slumped down a little, watching the others follow the kid.

Jay stopped to turn around and look at him. "No. If we did, you will just fail the class. Intervention time!" He punched the air before following the others out.

Cole rubbed his forehead and seriously wished that Sensei WU wouldn't agree to it.

…

"I still can't believe he agreed to this!" Cole exclaimed for the fifteenth time as he followed his friends down to the dragon pens.

"So we've heard. Can't you think of something else to complain about?" Kai rolled his eyes at Cole.

Cole glared at the stubborn boy, before turning his attention back to the kid. Lloyd insisted on coming with them, despite the fact he probably thought what they were doing boring. Scrambling over a boulder, Lloyd jumped down in front of Cole.

"Why are you scared of dragons? Did you have a bad experience with one when you were younger?" Lloyd appeared to have switched places with Jay…and Cole wants them to switch back.

"Doesn't matter, and no. All living dragons are kept here in the school. They're an endangered species." Cole looked up at the sky, wishing he could just explain things to the kid in a way that his mind would understand.

"Oh…yeah! I bet you'll like Rocky! He's real nice…and the strongest!" Lloyd bounced as he ran up ahead again.

"Rocky? That's the one that acts all concerned whenever a certain someone faints, isn't it?" Jay suddenly decided to open his mouth. Jay beamed with excitement when Lloyd nodded his head a confirmation.

Cole wasn't sure what to think about the whole dragon concerned for his health thing.

"Perchance we should try to keep Cole's mind off of the dragons by talking about whatever pops into our minds?" Zane suggested, looking back at Cole's pale face.

"Sounds good to me." Cole whispered, his eyes darting to the gate to the pens, which was now in sight.

"I've always wondered why the school motto can only be found above a broken drinking fountain." Lloyd sprinted back up the path to rejoin them.

"Uh…you're right. When does the fountain get fixed anyways?" Jay blinked, surprise flashing across his face.

"It's not gonna get fix. It's been like that since the school was founded. Back when it was the Monastery for the Elemental Masters. At least that was what Mom told me." Lloyd tilted his head back, confusion flashing across his face.

"So…someone thought it would be a good idea to write 'Thirst after Knowledge', above a broken fountain?" Cole questioned the logic of doing this.

"I know right? Dad says the First Spinjitzu Master was the one to put it there." Lloyd scooted closer to Cole, his arms wrapped tightly around Cole's waist.

"Congratulations Cole. You're about ten feet in the air." Kai suddenly swooped down in front of Cole, Nya sitting behind him on the bright red dragon.

"How…which dragon am I on?" Cole looked down to see that it was the brown dragon from his disastrous first lesson.

"That one is Rocky. This fellow we're on his Flames." Kai petted the dragon on top of his head.

"This is Shards." Zane appeared next to Cole riding the white dragon.

"And I've got Whisp!" Jay cheered as he flew up and above them.

Cole blinked as he looked out at the vast sky, and the vastness of the mountain range below. "Why was I scared of you guys? This…is…amazing!" Cole threw his hands in the air has he laughed.

"I'm still wondering about the broken fountain." Jay butted in.

They all laughed, not really caring about the broken fountain at the moment. Not when they were flying.

~Line Break… No one's POV, same time as above~

The room was dark and dusty from being abandoned many centuries ago. Water dripped unforgivingly from the ceiling to the floor. The single desk sitting in the middle of the room was rotten from old age and water exposure. Six wispy figures where gathered around the table staring at the flickering light in a glass orb. There were several scrolls cluttering a worn out, completely rotten shelf. A rat squeaked nearby as it scurried through, disturbing the dust for a second. The darkest of the ghosts turned to stare in the direction of the rat, before turning its attention back to the orb.

"It is them. I can feel it in my old bones." The ghost that appeared to be an ocean blue color announced.

"You don't have any bones Water. We're just spiritia." The other blue one, this time electric blue, spoke up.

"Oh, hush you Lightning. We've been through this before. I can say I have bones if I want to." Water scolded her friend, floating just above him.

It was obvious by Water's voice that she was female, while Lightning was a male. The other three spiritia shifted slightly, watching the interaction between the two curiously. They seemed to be getting over their pathetic feud, though they could be wrong.

"Can they read anything written in our language?" The green ghost asked, his deep voice making his gender very obvious.

"They are talking about the message that your first Chosen left for the descendants of the chosen ones. But, they won't be able to find anything written in our language unless they come down here." The black ghost spoke with authority. "Does that make sense to you Energy? Or do you need help remembering?"

"Hey…if I'm old, then imagine how old you are. You're even older than me, Earth!" Energy defended himself, glaring at the other one.

The red ghost shook his head, chuckling a bit at the rivalry that was being brought up. They were old and powerful, but they will always be siblings first and far most. The white ghost looked to him funny like, before turning to face the others.

"May I make a suggestion?" Everyone turned to him, his voice holding a deeper wisdom than the others suggesting he was the oldest. "They have a library in the school. We slip in there while everyone is asleep and drop off one of our scrolls. If they can read it, we know it's them. If not, we make the scrolls disappear before anyone else finds them."

"Ice…sometimes I wonder how we're related. That is pure brilliance! And I know just the scroll too." Earth floated over to the scrolls, pulling a particular one out of the pile.

Gasps escaped them as they realized what it contained. After looking at each other for a minute, the red ghost cleared his throat.

"Look, maybe we should talk some more tomorrow. Make sure we want to go through with this, especially if memory serves correctly, if it really is them, then they will find their way here without our aide."

Silence fell as the others contemplated what he said. Finally, Energy spoke up. "You're right, Fire. We are getting carried away here. We need to save our energy in case it is them."

All eyes latched onto the orb again, which was showing the five freshman and one kid flying around on the dragons.

~Back to the School, three hour time skip~

Cole chuckled to himself as he rubbed Rocky on the snout, the others doing the same with their burrowed dragons.

"Looks like I can expect you to stay in my class come Monday." Lord Garmadon suddenly materialized out of thin air behind Cole.

Cole jumped before looking back at the teacher. A wan smile crossed his face. "Yeah. You can count on that."

"Dad! I went flying today!" Lloyd rushed at Lord Garmadon, throwing his arms around the older man.

 **A/N: See? That wasn't so bad now…by the way? Can anyone tell me anything about what those spiritia thingies were talking about? No? Wonderful. I think I have an inkling of an idea…we'll just have to wait and see then. Wouldn't mind knowing why they're spying on Cole and the others…or talking about them. Ah well. Later.**

 **Can we just say right now that Lloyd is ADORABLE?! I just loved writing about his little interactions with the others in this chapter. Right, I have to go now…**

 **Bye!**

 **SkyTalon**


	4. Chapter 3: The First Break

**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! Ok, I know it's not really that time of year yet, but yeah…you'll understand when you read this chapter. So, yeah.**

 **The spiritia shouldn't appear in this chapter if everything goes according to plan. Um, yeah.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs!  
** ******************************************************************************

Chapter Three: First Break

Cole heaved the weights above his head, sweat trickling down his forehead. He liked every other Friday, like today. Instead of doing the obstacle course, they scattered throughout the courtyard and worked on improving their powers. Of course, for Cole and his slowly improving nongifted friends, that just meant that they gathered around each other and worked out. Three weeks after school started Zane pointed out that they basically had P.E. twice a day. Shaking his head, Cole moved the weights down to almost his chest.

"Hey Guys! What are your plans for the break?" Lloyd appeared out of nowhere, just out of Cole's eyesight.

"Isn't it a bit soon to be thinking about the break?" Kai gasped out from where he was running on a treadmill.

"…You do remember that Thanksgiving break starts tomorrow, right?" Lloyd flopped down on the grass next to them.

Cole quickly put the weights away, sitting up from the bench. "Wait…you mean we've been here for almost three months already!?"

Lloyd looked at him for a second, before slowly nodding his head yes. "Soo, do you have any plans? Besides seeing family, and stuffing your faces with food?"

Cole glanced over at the others, noticing that they all had stopped their various workouts. Kai had turned off the treadmill, while Nya stood still while holding the punching bag, Jay standing next to her, doing absolutely nothing. Zane was still sitting in a meditative position, but his eyes were open, making it very obvious that he was no longer mediating. "I guess we've been so busy, we didn't notice the passage of time." Cole wiped sweat of his forehead, wishing he had an actual power to improve on. He would feel a whole lot better if he got sweaty during this class actually accomplishing something.

Lloyd sniggered, before speaking up again. "So, you don't have any plans for your week back home?"

They all shook their heads no, wondering vaguely if any of the other students were going to be surprised about what was going on the next day. "If we do our homework right after dinner, we should still have some time before lights out to pack." Zane piped up, red with embarrassment.

Cole stretched slightly as he allowed his mind flash to where he would be this time next week, at home eating leftovers with his Dad and Jones's. A grin quickly crossed his only slightly tired face. "Good thing we started up that study group awhile back, uh?" Nods immediately rippled through the freshmen. They had a couple months back started doing their homework together, finding that it saved them a surprisingly amount of time.

Lloyd shakes his head at them, vaguely wondering if the packing for the week long vacation might prevent them from playing with him. Lloyd spotted his father coming this way, and quickly skedaddled, not wanting to get a lecture about distracting the students.

…

Cole stared out of the bus window, watching the desert roll by. The bus was far more crowded now than it was when school started up just a few months prior. Of course, he found himself sitting next to Jay, while Nya and Kai sat behind them. No one really wanted to sit by the nongifted students. Not that Cole minded a bit. That just meant they could talk to each other while the entire school population ignored them like always. Well, sort of ignored them…

"…And then I'm gonna go bird watching with her, you know? My cousin, Livvy? Anyways! After that, we're gonna…" Dareth Von Dare, a senior and fellow outcast, babbled nonstop to us, while the unfortunate soul sitting next to him drowned him out with his headphones.

He had brown hair and brown eyes, and that was the only color he would wear. He literally was wearing brown upon brown. Cole groaned as he wondered a long it would take them to get to his stop. "Man, the guy must be pretty desperate for friends if he's talking to us…" Kai hissed into Cole's ear suddenly, a grimace crossing his face. Dareth kept attempting to show everyone that he belonged, and failing, he also had the lamest power in the entire school. He could communicate with animals, and that was it. Cole shook his head, before turning to look at Kai and Nya.

"Do you have any ideas about what you want to do with your family this fine autumn week of freedom?" Cole glanced over at Jay, who was of course paying attention to what he was saying.

"I'm gonna help Ma and Pa reorganize the junkyard! It's a family tradition!" Jay piped up, bouncing in his seat.

Kai shook his head, before looking at Cole. "I'm more thinking more on the lines I help Dad around the store a bit; earn some spending money for upcoming Saturdays. Technically, it isn't against the school rules to leave the school property on Saturday, as long as your back before Dinner and a staff member knows where you are at."

Cole hummed as he looked out the window and noticed a large Junkyard come into view. Cole quickly sagged, knowing what that meant. A minute later, the bus pulled to a stop in front of the Junkyard. Jay quickly stood up and pulled his suitcase out from under his seat. "Bye guys! See you next week!" Jay hopped of the bus, swinging his suitcase, undisturbed that he lived in an actual Junkyard.

The bus continued onto Ninjago city. Cole sighed as he reminded himself that Dareth got off shortly before him.

…

Cole nodded bye to Kai and Nya has he made his way to the front of the now mostly empty bus. Forcing a smile, he waved bye to Misako, and jumped off the bus, skipping the last two steps. With a hiss, the doors snapped shut behind him and the bus continued on its way. A sigh escaped Cole has he realizes that Lou's car was not in front of the house. A sure sign that he wasn't home. Bending down, Cole pulled the spare key out from underneath the welcome mat, and let himself in.

"Hello! I am here for Thanksgiving break! Any one home!?" Cole walked through the threshold, not expecting a response.

"Cole? Is that you? Oh wow! It is _you_! How's the Mystery school? Did you make any new friends? _I_ made new friends! This is so awesome! Say, do you remember what their test is, cause I can't remember what the mystery school did for their test?" Jones came bowling down the stairs straight at Cole.

"Uh, hi Jones. What are you doing in my house?" Cole blinked, confused about what was going on.

"Didn't you hear? Dad didn't get better. He died two days ago." Jones hangs his head for a second. "Mr. Brookstone is letting the triplets and me stay here for awhile, just till Mom can get a more stable job and things." A huge grin crossed his face. "We're roommates now! Ok, we still have to share with Bailey…but come on! We can totally survive a week!" Cole could feel all color drain from his face. A week with Jones and Bailey Jones in the same room as _him_? Cole would take his chances with the serpentine from their last History lesson, thank you very much.

Cole hurried up to his room to find it a disaster zone. Ten year old Bailey, he had the same buzzed blonde hair has Jones, but with light blue eyes, had apparently already claimed the room as his own. The kid in question was lying down on Cole's bed, sprawled out as he read a comic book. Cole spied two cots set up. One had clearly been used once already, while the other was untouched.

"Bailey! This is technically Cole's room; you should let him get the actual bed." Jones popped up behind Cole, giving his little brother a stern look.

Cole glanced at the messy bed, then back to the cot. A nostalgic smile flickered across Cole's face as he noticed that the cot would be as comfortable has his bunk back at the school. "It's ok. I'll take the cot. I have to study for a test anyways…less likely to bug you guys if I'm closer to the door." Cole dropped his suitcase down on the cot, feeling rather antsy. Humming to himself, he turned to face the door, "How about I whip up some dinner for us?"

Jones arched his eyebrow at the strange new behavior Cole was showing. Bailey had already gone back to tuning the world out while reading his comic and Cole was shrugging off the fact that his little brother had taken over his room. "You feeling ok, Cole?"

Cole glanced back, his eyes somewhat distant. "Uh? Yeah, I'm ok. Aren't you feeling antsy with nothing to do besides the smallest pile of homework in the universe?" Cole asked as he walked out the room.

"What kind of school sends him home with that little bit of homework? Why not send him home without any homework?" Jones walked over and rummaged through Cole's bags until he found the homework packet. Jones dropped his mouth open upon seeing that the amount of homework Cole had for one class was roughly the same for all of Jones' classes combined together. And he had homework from every class in there as well as the thick packet.

"Whoa…whatever the mystery school teaches, I hope I don't get in it four years from now." Bailey suddenly appeared right at Jones's shoulder, peering over it to notice the large pile of homework that Cole had.

"He said it was a little pile. This ain't little!"

…

Cole decided to ignore the fact the chicken he pulled out of the oven was pitch black. He was almost done cooking, and truthfully had completely trashed the place. Biting his bottom lip, he dropped the hot dish onto a hot spot, waving the tiny tendrils of smoke away from him.

"Dad better like this." Cole muttered, worried that he would get the same reaction to his cooking that his friends gave him from his father.

"Jones! I'm home! Has Cole come back yet?!" A familiar, sing-songy voice called out. A minute later, Lou walked into the kitchen.

Cole gave a weak smile as he watched his father freeze in the doorway. "Hey Dad. I made dinner."

A huge smile crossed Lou's face has he rushed over and hugged Cole. "You're back! I was beginning to think you weren't coming! All the other school's had half days yesterday so as to get everyone home on time."

Cole blinked as he allowed what he said to filter through his mind. Different schools work differently, and there probably was no school like Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted.

…

Cole glanced over at the table, trying to figure out where he was going to seat. At the head of the table sat Lou, on his right side was Hailey Jones, on his left side was Kailey Jones, then there was Jones on the right, and Mrs. Jones on the left. Hailey and Kailey looked extremely similar with matching short cut brown hair and grey eyes. Mrs. Jones had graying blonde hair and light blue eyes. Cole frowned as he realized that the table appeared to be shorter than normal. There was only one seat left, instead of two…and it was the seat that Mr. Jones always sat in when they came over for dinner. "Umm, Dad? Am I sitting where Mr. Jones usually sits, or you just left my seat in the storage unit by accident?"

"Uh?" Lou looked up to face Cole. "Mr. Jones has passed away son. I sold the other chair for some extra money. Now come sit down and eat."

Cole slowly sat down, fidgeting slightly at how weird the chair felt to him. He wasn't used to sitting in this particular chair. Lou had bought it specifically for Mr. Jones when he first came ill. The doctor had believed Mr. Jones would get better quickly, and can stay home with his family, the first time the illness cropped up. Upon hearing that Mr. Jones was ill, Lou had bought a chair with an extra soft seat for him.

"So, Cole. How do you like the mystery school so far?" Mrs. Jones asked as she passed the mashed potatoes to him.

~ _Flashback_ ~

" _Wake up! Wake up! Mom is making pancakes!" Lloyd jumped onto Cole's chest, forcing the teen to snap awake._

 _Alarmed, Cole surged upright and glanced at his watch. It read five twenty-five a.m. Groaning, Cole grabbed his pillow and placed it over his head. "Kid, school doesn't start for another five minutes. Please let us sleep…" Cole paused before raising his voice slightly, "unless I'm the only awake."_

" _Nope. I'm awake to. Something with Kai. And I think Zane's awake…HEY ZANE ARE YOU AWAKE?!" Jay leaned over his bunk as he yelled to the still teen._

 _A groan immediately escaped Zane as he lifts his head up. "If I wasn't before, I am now."_

" _Come on! Let's get moving! The sooner you get P.E. done, the sooner you can have_ _ **pancakes**_ _!" Lloyd continued to bounce as he danced around the room._

 _A growl escaped Kai has he threw his pillow at the hyperactive kid. Five minutes later when Nya came in to see why they were taking forever to get ready, she got whacked with a pillow by an overly awake Jay. The room covered in feathers, all of them dressed and running all over the place hitting each other with pillows while howling with laughter. To say the least, even though TECHNICALLY, they were ready first, they were late to class that day._

~ _End Flashback_ ~

Cole blinked as he looked at Mrs. Jones. "Yeah, I like it. Very educational." Cole lifted his hand up to muffle what he said next. "Pillow fights in the morning, pillow fights at night."

"Wait…what? What does pillow fights have to do with school?" Jones shot Cole a weird look.

"Nothing…just the fact it is not uncommon for my dorm to have one every time breakfast is something that Lloyd likes." Cole shrugged as he bit into his burnt chicken.

"Is Lloyd one of your roommates?" Cole nodded yes as he quickly drained his glass of water to get the taste out of his mouth. "What grade is he in?" Lou crossed his fingers that Lloyd wasn't too much older than Cole. It was good to know someone who knows the way around the school.

"He's in fifth grade, about. Kid's homeschooled, so it's kinda hard to tell what grade he is in." Cole shrugged, as if that was supposed to make total sense.

"Cool! That's our age group!" Hailey squealed loudly.

Cole nodded absently, picking at his food as he wondered what his new friends were doing right now. Zane probably was helping Dr. Julian cook dinner wherever they lived outside of the school. Kai and Nya were most likely cleaning dinner and helping out in the family store. Jay…Jay would be talking his parents ear off about their classes, and side adventures.

"Hey! Earth to Cole!" Jones waved his hand in front of Cole, a frown crossing his face. "You ok? I've been saying your name for the past ten minutes."

"I'm fine. Where are the triplets?" Cole noticed that the table was devoid of life.

"They finished and went to go play video games. What was going through your head to make you oblivious to the world?" Jones asked as he grabbed his empty plate.

"Just, my new friends. I was wondering what it is their doing right about now." Cole picked up his plate to follow Jones to the sink.

"Oh…I've made new friends too, but I don't think about them constantly." Jones knitted his eyebrows together in puzzlement.

"Oh. Well, we do everything together. We're in the same dorm, and the same classes. So, we do our homework together. And we spend all of our downtime together, doing stuff. We went to Mega Monster Amusement Park once. Of course…that was just cause Lloyd's parents took him and he asked if we could come with." Cole slipped back into memory lane, much to Jones annoyance.

"Wow…that is a lot more hanging around these guys. I don't do everything with my roommates…actually. I'm not sure I know all of their names. Guess that's the upside of going to a small school. You know everyone by name." Jones turned the water on to start scrubbing the dishes.

"Yeah… unfortunately everyone knows who you are." Cole frowned as he wished that he knew what his Power was, so that he could get out of the same boat that Dareth was in.

 **A/N: Ok, next chapter is still the break. Cole and the others aren't what you call the most popular kids in the school. Oh! It was Jacob, master of sound, which was sitting next to Dareth on the bus. His powers are that he can manipulate sound to help him see where he is going. Hmm, just so you know, Dareth AND Skylor might make an appearance during the break.**

 **Till next time!**

 **SkyTalon**


	5. Chapter 4: Everything Goes South

**A/N: Hello! I'm back! Time for, well, let's see what I have planned for today… oooh! A kidnapping, an interesting rescue…and Cole is more popular than he thinks he is. Exciting!**

 **Angel Shoulder: How is that exciting?**

 **Devil Shoulder: I'm getting the popcorn. Sounds exciting!**

 **Me: Oh no…how did you two get in?!**

 **Devil Shoulder: Oh, easy! We climbed through your window!**

 **Angel Shoulder: No we didn't. You left the door open by accident.**

 **Me: Now that is more believable. Wait! I left the door open?!**

 **(Grouchily) Devil Shoulder: I still prefer the whole we climbed through the window…**

 **Angel Shoulder: We didn't do that though.**

 **Me: Stop fighting! Man, you would think you two were siblings or something with the way you go at it.**

 **Angel and Devil: We are siblings, unfortunately.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs!**

Chapter Four: Everything goes South

Cole shoved his hands into his pockets as he followed the triplets into the Arcade. It was tradition that on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Mr. Jones would take the triplets and two friends to the Arcade to keep them busy while Mrs. Jones and Lou did some last minute shopping. Of course, watching them ran off like small children with no restraint made him feel awkward doing this without Mr. Jones. He would typically follow the triplets around everywhere, while Cole and Jones did whatever they pleased. Now, though, they had to watch the triplets and be the mature adults in charge.

"Bailey, Hailey, and Kailey! I want you to stay where I can see you!" Jones yelled as he chased after the three ten year olds.

Cole ran a hand down his face, groaning. He definitely didn't have the same energy as the triplets. Or did he? He technically spent all of his Saturdays playing with Lloyd…and he had the same amount of energy as the triplets. Pushing this to the back of his head, he charged off to track down at least one of his charges.

…

"Come on Cole! Let's go get pizza!" Hailey ran past him, grabbing onto his arm. Kailey was right in front of him squealing. Cole rubbed his forehead as he glanced at the clock. It was time for them to stop and eat their usual pizza that Mr. Jones would order at the nearby Pizza Parlor.

"Jones! Take Bailey to the pizza parlor! I've got the girls!" Cole called out as he was dragged out of the Arcade.

"On it Cole!" Jones yelled as he tried pulling Bailey away from a video game.

Cole jogged through the busy streets of Ninjago City, trying to keep an eye on the energetic girls. Dodging around a couple swinging hands as they talked about who knows what, Cole briefly lost sight of them. When he scanned the area for them again, alarm shot through to see that one of them, unfortunately it was too far for him to see which one, was by herself looking highly terrified as an oddly dressed man yanked on her arm, towards an alley way. Breaking at a sprint, he charged the stranger, swinging a wild punch at him. Turning to face the alleyway, Cole bit his bottom lip upon noticing that there were two of them, one of which was holding the other girl. The frightened ten years old quickly wrapped her arms around Cole as if to hide from her attempted kidnappers. Glancing down, Cole noticed the blue flower shaped locket around her neck. Hailey. It was Hailey with him. Which meant it was Kailey with the strangers. This thought quickly disappeared as a fist entered Cole's vision. Cole leaned back, making it so that he only hit air. Forcing himself to remember his P.E. lessons, Cole swiftly kicked the other guy's legs from out underneath him. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he continued dodging attacks and landing a few blows, trying to get Kailey back. After awhile, he ripped Kailey out of the second guy's hands and pushed her towards Hailey. Turning to face his opponents, he didn't see the fist until it was too late. He was lying flat on the ground, his breath surprisingly not knocked out. Sucking in a breath out of surprise and shock, he stared at his opponents, one of which was about to slam his fist into Cole's face. Cole flinched; screwing his eyes shut waiting for the impact. It never came. A loud thud echoed through the alleyway, forcing him to open his eyes. A gasp escaped him upon seeing Skylor Chen, junior with orange hair and amber eyes, standing over him, her fingers curled tightly in a fist… a metal fist by the way.

"Are you ok?" Hailey asked as she tugged on Cole's arm.

Cole shakily stood up turning his attention to the girls. Apparently the fight had drawn a crowd. Dareth was nibbling his bottom lip, eyes flickering between the two guys, while Jones was trying to hide Bailey from sight, and cling to Kailey rather tightly. Nodding his head, Cole spoke shakily. "I'm fine. Are _you_ ok?"

"Yeah…thank you." Hailey whispered, her eyes flickering to the ground, out of shyness.

"Where did you get the metal glove, girlie?" One of the near kidnappers demanded glaring at Skylor.

Skylor, Dareth, and Cole quickly spoke in unison. "It's not a glove."

Cole cleared his throat, before adding on a very simple statement. "It's her hand. Skylor does things like that."

"Wait… _you_ know her?" Bailey yelped, surprise flashing across his face.

Cole glanced over at the younger boy. "Yes. Skylor Chen, a Junior…and the most popular girl in my school. Don't worry, she doesn't know my name."

"I know who you are, Cole!" Skylor snapped as she prepared to punch the kidnappers again.

Cole felt his mouth drop as he stared at the older girl. She knew he was… "Great, I was kinda hoping to go through school as invisibly as possible."

Skylor burst out laughing, which didn't make any sense. "You mean like Paleman?" Cole clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from giggling. That really explained why she found what he said funny.

Jones blinked slowly, trying to figure out what kind of school had a student with a _metal_ hand. Moving slowly, Skylor and Cole backed out of the alleyway, keeping the girls behind them. Grasping their hands, they turned and bolted out of there, Skylor's hand turning back to normal.

…

"I can't thank you enough for saving my sisters." Jones picked up an extra cheesy slice of pizza. They were at the pizza parlor with the two older high school students, eating two large extra cheesy pepperoni pizzas.

Skylor gave a half shrug as she bit into her slice of pizza. "You should thank Dareth, he was the one to get me."

Cole played with his straw, one eyebrow inching upwards. "How did you know that I was in trouble?"

Dareth sipped at his water before answering. "A rat noticed and told a bird, who told a squirrel, who then told a dog, who told a cat, who told a mouse, who told another bird…" Skylor clapped a hand over his mouth quickly. "Basically, Dareth played telephone with wild animals."

Cole struggled not to smile at the familiar way the two of them interacted with each other. "How long have you two been dating?"

Skylor immediately lurched forward, her eyes popping out of their respective sockets. "We're not dating! Look, we leave within two blocks of each other. Dareth is my best friend. No, he's the younger brother I never had." Skylor declared, forcing herself to take deep breaths to calm herself.

Dareth promptly pried her hand off of his mouth. "Yeah, what she said. We tried dating once…but it was really awkward. So now we're stuck in the best friend zone. Which is an amazing place to be."

Cole gave his head a quick shake. "Ok, ok! I get it! Wait…Dareth's older than you." Cole pointed at Skylor.

"Have you met him?" Skylor drily intoned as she nodded her head at Dareth, who was busy trying to balance his fork on his nose.

Cole pinched his nose before looking down to his plate. It had his partially eaten, fifth piece of pizza on it still. One large pizza pan was empty, while the other held three pieces. Picking his fork up, Cole cut off a bite, wondering what his father would say if they came home with two extras. Two extras that the Jones's kids were learning weren't quite normal…

…

Lou knew that being an only parent meant unplanned surprises, particularly if said child was away at boarding school. But, coming home expecting just your kid and the neighbors kids, only to find two older kids you've never met before…yep, that took the cake. "Cole! Who are these people in _my_ living room!?"

Cole flinched as he sat his pencil down, suddenly not too interested in his Science homework. "Dad, this is Skylor Chen, the most popular girl at my school, who apparently knows my name. And Dareth Von Dare, the least popular kid in school that turns out to be Skylor's best friend. Crazy right?"

Lou looked about ready to explode when Mrs. Jones quickly intervened. "So nice to meet you! What brings you to this part of town?"

Lou rolled his eyes as he turned his back to them. "I'm more wondering if their parents know where they are at. With the disappearances going on lately…"

All four of the teens promptly looked at them funny. "What disappearances?" Skylor slowly asked, panic glinting in her eyes.

"Lately people have been disappearing in one city, then reappearing in another. They're always tied up when they've been found. And by the sound of things, it's the same guys doing it. Oh! Speaking of which, the mystery law breakers tried taking Kailey and me." Hailey explained, turning to face her mother.

"What do you mean they tried to take you?" Mrs. Jones looked like she was about to faint from this little confession.

"Um, well. First Cole came in punching and kicking, and they tried fighting him off, but he dodged most of their attacks. And then, after Cole got knocked to the ground. Skylor came bowling in and punched the guy so hard, he went reeling!" Kailey declared, waving her arms around widely.

Hailey nodded her head in agreement before continuing the story. "Yeah, but she didn't have a normal fist. She had somehow tuned her whole hand into metal!"

"What?!" Both adults yelped, as wide eyed they turned to face the girl. Skylor barely shrugged, as if it were no big deal to her.

"Oh, yeah! While we were eating lunch, we found out that she knew about because Dareth could talk to animals." Bailey supplied, wanting to be helpful.

"Ok…why does the Mystery School have two students that have superpowers?" Lou pinched his nose trying to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, he said two things that three teens took great offense to.

"It is Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted! And they're not superpowers! They're Gifts!" All three classmates yelled in great offense.

Jones nearly doubled over with laughter. "Ok then! Looks like someone is offensive if you get their school's name wrong."

Cole immediately turned bright red with embarrassment. Dareth suddenly stood up, stretching. "Well, it was nice to meet you guys, but I have to get home before it gets any later."

"Bye Dareth!" Everyone called out enthusiastically.

Once he left, the majority of the group turned back to the board game they were in the process of playing. After moving her piece forward three spaces, only to have it slid back down to the start of the game, Skylor glanced worriedly towards the two adults. "Cole, did they say those two guys we fought were making people disappear for a while now?"

"Yeah. Is something wrong about that Skylor?" Cole spun the spinner, watching it lazily spin around.

"Did you not notice their eyes? They weren't human." Skylor muttered in a low whisper, only for Jones to hear her.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THOSE KIDNAPPERS WEREN'T HUMAN?!" Jones screeched, bringing Lou and Mrs. Jones running into the living room.

Skylor flinched, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um, I meant that has in they were both Hypnobrai."

Confusion crossed all of their faces, none of them recognizing that word, except for Cole, who was puzzled for another reason. "But, for two Hypnobrai to be out and about would mean their entire tribe was released from their prison." Cole began to pace as his mind reeled with this information. "Wait! Isn't the map to the other tribes is in their den?" Cole by now was imagining all the serpentine tribes exacting their revenge on humankind.

Skylor must have used another Gifted's special power or something, because she quickly interjected his thoughts out of there. "Cole, three of the four fangblades have been lost. The only one we know where it's at is the one in our History classroom."

Cole swallowed as he realized that she was telling the truth. There had been a serpentine scare three hundred years ago. Sensei Wu had responded by trying to find and collect all the fangblades before them. Only, has Skylor pointed out, three of the fangblades weren't where they were supposed to be, making them lost forever. Cole sat back down slowly, noticing that the spinner had finally stopped spinning. Cole quickly moved his place four paces, and then climbed a ladder up to the final stretch. Picking his pencil back up, he went back to his homework, mind reeling at the news Skylor delivered.

Lou and Mrs. Jones went back to putting groceries away, all the while discussing what Skylor just told them. As well as Jones and the triplets. Since when could Cole fight? A few hours, and three board games later, Skylor finally stood up to leave. It was already very dark outside.

"You sure about this Skylor? Maybe you would like to stay for the night? Certainly you're parents will understand, with the kidnappers on the loose?" Lou tried to stop the teen from heading home, knowing just how dangerous the city was at night, especially now with these mysterious Hypnobrai on the loose.

"It's fine. Griffin's Gift is super speed." Skylor waved his concern off, not really bothered by what he was implying.

"How is this 'Griffin' going to help you?" Mrs. Jones piped up, concern weaving its way into her voice.

"Skylor's Gift is Absorption." Cole glanced up to look at the two adults. "Basically, that means that she can use the Gifts of others. Anyone watching her will only see a blur."

Lou felt his mouth drop open in shock as he looked to the orange-haired teen. Shrugging, Skylor waved bye and bolted out the door, already using the Gift of super speed.

…

Cole shifted on the cot, scanning his last ten questions. Ugh, he needed Jay or Nya right about now. They would know the answer to this, no problem. "Jones? Bailey? Do either of you know how to fix a hydrogenerator, _and_ disable a missile that was programmed to be launched at your home? Please note that they are right next to each other, and the hydrogenerator is powering an entire city, and is about to blow said city up, and the missile is going to take off any second now."

"What kind of question is that?" Jones arched his eyebrow has he looked up from the notebook he was trying to write a song in.

"It's going to show up on my science test. But I don't know the answer." Cole spun his pencil in last circles, not really too concerned about this.

"If that's 'science', then I'm a monkey's uncle." Bailey declared, one eyebrow arched up has he continued reading the comic he bought behind Jones's back.

Cole shook his head, before snatching the study guide up and standing up. Turning, he headed downstairs to ask Lou if he knew. Stepping on the bottom step, Cole froze as he heard the news report for the day.

"Ten more people have disappeared. Three of the people that disappeared last week in Jamanakai Village have turned up in Ignacia, a much smaller village further south."

"Indeed you are correct. Upon talking to the three that were found, we merely get a confirmation that it is the same two people. Though interestingly enough, apparently they were talking earlier about how they were planning on taking two young girls, but someone had stopped them from doing it."

"Indeed. Now, we don't know what all that's about. All we know is that the kidnappers said something about Descendants of something called Elemental Masters… any idea what that means?"

"No. All I can tell you is that I am sure the families of these two little girls are quite thankful that they're safe and sound. Now unto the weather report."

Cole turned to head back upstairs, his mind reeling. Skylor made the news, sort of. No one it was her…or what Descendants of Elemental Masters have in common.

They all attend Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted.

Cole collapsed onto this cot, staring at the ceiling, not really noticing anything at all. Not even Jones waving his hand in front of his face. Somehow, Cole had a feeling come Monday, there would be some changes around the school…

 **A/N: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Phew. Glad I finished this chapter…also a few notices.**

 **One: I updated Back in my days…**

 **Two: I started a new Ninjago story. It's called The Past, The Present, and The Future. For now. I need to work on a title for it.**

 **SO, till next time!**

 **See ya!**

 **SkyTalon**


	6. Chapter 5: Cole finds a Treasure Chest

**A/N: Hello! Hmm, is not working real well today… oh well. Guess I'll just work on this little chapter. Thanksgiving break is now over with and time to learn what changes are going to be made around the school. And start on the mystery. Yeah! *claps hands excitedly***

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! The riddle is courtesy of RandomDragon2.0! Thank you!**

Chapter Five: Cole finds a Treasure Chest

Cole plopped down on the cool grass next to the other freshmen…and surprisingly Lloyd. They should have started P.E. already, but Misako had announced that there was to be an assembly today. Not something that happens very often. Sensei Wu made his way slowly to the front of the large lawn.

"Students! It has been brought to my attention that the serpentine tribe of the Hypnobrai has escaped their icy prison!" Sensei Wu paused dramatically, before continuing. "We are now going to have to start doing patrols and take the skills we have learned in this class; and in our Power Training class as well." Sensei Wu paused, before suddenly looking straight at Cole. A bad feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. "All freshmen this year will stay behind and not partake of the patrols or fighting. That includes you too, Nephew." Sensei Wu sent an extra hard glare at the ten-year old boy. Lloyd ducked his head quickly, a pink tinge flushing his cheeks at the public scolding. Cole reached out and squeezed the small boy, understanding how he felt at the moment. Sensei Wu certainly had put them on the spot right then. "You may continue on now." Sensei left, leaving Lord Garmadon to take over his class again.

"Ok! Due to the Hypnobrai returning, we are going to kick ALL training up a notch. Expect that P.E. and Power Training to be harder than ever before!" Lord Garmadon bellowed as he went through the students pairing them all up for sparring. When he arrived at Cole and his friends, he quickly skipped over them. "Spar amongst yourselves. No point in challenging you if you're not going out to fight the Hypnobrai."

Cole sighed as he stood up, looking his friends over. There were only five of them. Not an even number for sparring. Unless…"Hey! Lloyd, do you want to spar with us? We need one more person."

Lloyd immediately perked up. No one has ever asked him if he wanted to join in on their lessons before. "Sure! Umm, I don't know how to though…" Lloyd shuffled his feet in worry.

Nya quickly placed a hand on his small shoulder. "Don't worry. We're just learning ourselves. Here, you can spar with me. Zane? Why don't you go with Kai? That leaves Jay with you Cole, if that's ok?"

Cole nodded in agreement; making mental notes about what he knew about each person's fighting style. Kai just went for it and doesn't think of any plans, while Zane typically over plans his attacks. Nya was fast, but she preferred to be able to throw different weapons at her opponents, and over thinks the whole process. Jay relied on his speed, and if possible would throw weapons at his opponents, never trying to get too physical. Cole himself was more lenient towards using his strength, planting heavy blows when possible.

Breaking off, they started off with a quick warm up, and then started sparring. They didn't continue for long however. They all very soon were caught up with teaching Lloyd how to correctly block basic blows and land his own blows. A smile tugged at Cole's lips, as he realized he was rather enjoying himself.

…

Cole groaned as he closed his History textbook. The new alarm system that had been set up specifically for the serpentine had gone off in the middle of their history lesson, meaning school had been cut short. Apparently after they had failed to kidnap the girls, they had released all of their prisoners…and started to attack people publicly, taking in huge offense that the majority of the citizens of Ninjago didn't know who they were at all. Cole glanced over to where Zane was helping Lloyd with some math. He could vaguely hear Kai and Nya arguing in hushed tones whether or not they should be worried about the serpentine sighting near their home. Jay was already fiddling with something, a pet project he had brought back to the school after the break ended.

"I'm officially bored. Can we do something to keep our minds off of the fact that the entire school is basically empty?" Cole loudly asked, catching everyone's attention.

"It is not entirely empty. Father is just down the hall in his office." Zane pointed out, puzzled over why Cole would say that the school was empty.

Kai groaned as he leaned back, stretching out any sore muscles he might have. "Zane…Cole meant that has in we're the only students here. And Dr. Julian is a smidgen busy right now."

A soft oh escaped Zane has he registered what it was that Kai was telling him. Lloyd squirmed suddenly, an idea lit up in his eyes. "Bolobo has started a vegetable garden…sort of. He needs to remove the rocks from inside of it. We could do that for him. I mean, umm." Lloyd shifted slightly, nervous about what the others thought about working in a garden.

"Well, we did learn how to be gardeners right before the break in Random Class." Cole quietly agreed with the younger boy.

Now with an idea on _something_ to do, they left the study room. None of them aware what was about to transpire…

…

Cole hummed to himself as he lifted up several stones at once. They were almost done removing the rocks from the garden. The labor making it difficult for any of them to talk with each other, though that could be caused by the fact that they had started up a competition to see who could remove the most rocks. So far, Lloyd and Cole both had removed the most, and were tied in first place. Flinging the rocks he collected onto his pile, Cole turned to check on the kid. And immediately froze. Several Hypnobrai were slipping into the school's courtyard, unaware of the five students and one little kid standing around in the vegetable garden.

"Hey you! Only students and staff are allowed in!" Jay suddenly yelled, not helping one bit in this situation. Cole slapped his face, wondering if he should tell Jay that they really don't want the serpentine to notice them at the moment…

"Ssssstop them from alerting the otherssss about our pressssssssssence here!" One of the serpentine hissed as he pointed straight at the six minors.

Lloyd stumbled back, panic flaring in his eyes. "What do we do!?" Same time he asked that, Kai gave off a yell of Jay, annoyance flooding his voice.

Cole quickly scanned the vegetable garden in hopes of finding _something_ to use as a weapon against the serpentine. Only problem was, all he could see were some weeds and rocks lying around the place. No weapons what so ever. Cole groaned as he glanced back to the advancing serpentine, worry creasing his brow. At least until Zane spoke up. "Quickly! We can use the rocks we've been clearing out as ammo!"

Cole grimaced, wondering why he hadn't thought of that. Bending down, he picked up a rock. Squeezing his eyes shut, Cole threw the rock in the general direction of the serpentine. Within seconds, the air was filled with soaring rocks. Cole cracked open his eyes to see what was going on. The courtyard was littered with different sized rocks, most of the serpentine having already retreated; only one was left. Unlike the others that had legs, he had a tail that he slithered along on, a staff grasped tightly in his hand. Frowning, Cole looked around the garden, only to realize that they were out of rocks…except for a rock that was semi buried at the edge of the garden. Grasping it, Cole tugged on the rock. Only it didn't budge. Grunting, he pulled even harder. It still didn't budge. Frustrated, he gave it one extra hard yank…and the rock went flying. The serpentine headed towards them quickly scrambled backwards, barely missing getting hit by the rock as it crashed to the ground.

"Retreat! I'm not going to fight someone that will use everyday items to crush my tail!" He snapped as he fled away from them.

As soon as the serpentine were all gone, they burst out cheering. Jay quickly hugged Nya, only to jump apart, a blush flaring up on his face. "Nice thinking Zane! All of the serpentine are gone now!"

Zane frowned, brushing the dirt off of his jeans. "You mean they're gone _for_ now. I fear that they may come back."

Silence fell amongst the friends as they stared down at their feet. Zane had a point. The serpentine would most likely be back, sometime. Just not right now. Lloyd suddenly began hitting Nya rapidly. Nya promptly snapped, whacking the kid. "Lloyd! Stop hitting me!"

Lloyd dodged Nya's hand, a huge grin crossing his face. "But Nya! Look! Cole unburied buried treasure!"

"What?!" All eyes turned to face the kid.

Lloyd sighed, before pointing to where the rock that Cole just threw used to be sitting. Sure enough there was a treasure chest sitting in the large, surprisingly deep, hole. Launching forward, they all banged heads together, literally banged their heads, as they pulled the surprisingly light chest out of the hole. A frown crossed all of their faces as they noticed that it was locked with a strange looking padlock. Jay picked up the chest and promptly began shaking it.

"How do we open this? Where's the keyhole?" Jay demanded as Cole wrestled the box out of his hands.

"Jay! Careful! What if it were fragile!?" Cole demanded as he brushed his right middle finger along the strange lock.

Immediately, the lock sprang open, the force of it doing so strong enough that it forced the lid of the chest to open. Mouth's dropping open, they stared at each other for about five seconds before they tried crowding each other out to see what was in it. Once again, they banged heads with each other. Zane managed to pull out a small piece of rolled up parchment, and a pendant of some sort. The pendant was dark in color and appeared to have a golden scythe engraved into the front of it. Zane gingerly pinched the pendant…only for green lightning to shoot out and zap him. A yelp escaped him as he dropped the pendant. Kai snatched it up, only for it to zap him, only instead of dropping it, he handed it to Nya. Nya was also zapped, and she very quickly dropped it on top of Jay. It then proceeded to zap Jay, who very quickly threw it at Lloyd. Lloyd yelped as it zapped him, before throwing it at Cole, who very quickly dodged the pendant.

"Dude! I do not want the apparently magical pendant!" Cole yelled as he scrambled back, his foot brushing alongside it.

Immediately, the pendant sprung up and placed itself around Cole's neck. Even though no mysterious green lightning zapped him, Cole still yanked on it, screaming like a little girl. "Get it off! Get it off!"

Nya and Lloyd giggled as the other fourteen year olds tackled Cole to the ground, trying to pull of the pendant without getting zapped.

"No use! It seems as if it has a mind of its own!" Kai growled as he jumped back as the pendant zapped him again.

Zane rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyeing the pendant. "If that is true, then it appears to like Cole, and not the rest of us. Perchance we should respect its wishes and leave it be with Cole."

Cole stared at his friends, his mouth hanging open in shock. "You would just leave me like this?! What kind of friends are you?!"

Jay nervously laughed, eyeing the pendant as if it could jump out and attack him any moment now. "The kind that don't want to get barbequed. Face it Cole…its stuck, and we can't get it off without hurting ourselves."

Cole groaned as he looked down at the pendant. Reaching up, he quickly tucked it under his shirt, the phrase out of sight out of mind flashing across his mind. "What about that parchment that Zane found with it? What does it say?"

Zane quickly unrolled the parchment. Clearing his throat, he quickly read it out loud. "I am something that can be found in every city, yet with a single touch I can kill you. I can travel faster than light, yet can be contained in a small glass orb. What am I?" Zane paused, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "Strange. That is all that is written on the parchment."

Everyone scratched their heads, confusion flashing across their faces.

~Back with the Spiritia~

Earth banged his head over and over again against the wall, muttering about how Cole was an idiot to himself. Meanwhile the others were doing some sort of victory, chanting over and over again the fact they could read Lightning's hand writing. Lightning was not at all bothered that they were poking fun of his handwriting.

"Earth! Come on! This is great! We know it's really them now!" Water cheered as she danced giggling like crazy.

"He used super strength and didn't even notice!" Earth roared as he continued banging his head. "And technically, only Zane read the riddle. This means we have confirmation that he is one of them."

Groans immediately escaped the others as they realized that Earth was telling the truth. Only Zane had read the riddle that was written in their native tongue.

 **A/N: Ok…two things.**

 **One: I am the only person that I know of that can get stuck on the pantry shelves reaching for something that Cat can reach from the floor, without any problems…**

 **Two: You can guess the answer to the riddle if you'd like, RandomDragon already knows because I asked her for help. I don't necessary care if you do or not. They will find the answer…eventually.**

 **Oh! Cole used super strength to remove not a good size rock like he thought, but an actual boulder buried deep into the ground. Yeah…this just means we get to watch Earth hit his head against the wall constantly.**

 **Till Next time!  
SkyTalon**


	7. Chapter 6: Baby Dragons

**A/N: Hey there! Ok… time to revisit the dragons! Figured it's been awhile since we last interacted with them. Also, after I posted the last chapter, I realized that I made a small mistake. The spiritia were supposed to mention that both Cole and Zane are now confirmed for whatever the mystery prophesy is about. The pendant that attached itself to Cole is a second way of confirmation.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs! (By the way, IF everything goes according to plan, you will be meeting two new OCs today) Another thing, I don't own the riddle. It is all RandomDragon2.0's! (the riddle, not the story)**

Chapter Six: Baby Dragons

"Earthquake!" Cole snapped his eyes open as he struggled to detangle himself from his blankets. Blinking sleep out of his eyes, he noted that he was out of bed already, flat on his back on the floor. Zane was the one who had called out about the earthquake, and he was grabbing onto the bedpost to steady himself from the shaking ground.

Kai dropped down to the floor, his eyes alert for danger. A few seconds later, his shoulders drooped down in weariness. "Looks like it was just a small one. It's over now."

Lloyd frowned, crossing his arms across his chest. "Well, now we're all awake. Can we plan out what we're gonna do today?"

Jay promptly jumped onto the kid's bed, a grin crossing his face. "That's right! Today's Saturday!"

Cole chuckled at his friends' excitement, before climbing onto Lloyd's bed. Kai wryly shook his head at them before sitting down on the bed. Just then, Nya walked into the room. Arching one eyebrow, she plopped down next to Kai on the bed.

"Taking it you all felt that earthquake too?" Everyone nodded affirmation to her question.

Zane then after hesitating for several seconds, sat down on the bed. He had barely sat down, when a loud creaking noise filled the air. Before anyone could say anything about it, Lloyd's bed broke under the weight.

Loud yelps escaped the six friends, before very quickly turning into high pitched laughter. Kai suddenly spoke up, his voice shaking from laughing. "There were six in a bed and the little one said…." Kai giggled even harder.

Lloyd shook his head at us, his hand pressed against his mouth to attempt to muffle his giggling. "You broke my bed."

Zane wryly smiled at the kid, amusement dancing in his eyes. "That is not the way the rhyme goes. It goes the little one said, _roll over_." Lloyd reached over and swatted him on the arm.

Nya snuggled up to her older brother, a yawn escaping her. "What time is it anyways?"

Jay bit back a yawn as he pulled his arm up to peer at his new blue digital wristwatch. "Uh…four a.m. Wow. That's earlier than what we get up for on a school day."

Kai groaned, even as a yawn tore out of him. "Jay? Don't mention that right now. You're making me sleepy."

Cole stretched as he also yawned, wondering vaguely if they should go back to bed. "We still need something to do today."

Hums rippled through the group as they bobbed their heads, their eyes growing heavier by the second.

~Back with the Spiritia~

"Oh no you don't!" Earth leapt forward, pointing his finger straight at the orb which allowed them to follow the movement of the six they suspected where the ones from the prophesy. The scene rippled as the orb zoomed in on the pendant around Cole's neck. Reaching out, Earth poked the pendant, a satisfied smirk crossing his face. Cole already was soo close to start his training; he didn't need to fall asleep now of all times.

~Back with the Friends~

Cole was about to fall into a deep sleep, when the pendant that was around his neck suddenly began glowing. Snapping his eyes open, Cole fell off what remained of his young friend's bed, yelping. The glow lit up the entire room as if it was the noon day sun, and it was also black with a tint of gold. Everyone, who were also falling asleep, promptly yelped as they threw their hands up to block the glow.

"Cole!" Someone yelled through the blinding light.

Cole clasped the pendant in his hands, trying to keep it from blinding everyone. "Hey! Don't yell at me! This is the first time it's done something like this!"

A flicker of movement from the side, then what was obviously Zane's voice spoke up. "We found it five whole days ago. Either it was low on power, or something else is triggering it."

~Back with the Spiritia~

"Earth!" Water punched her one older brother in the face.

"Ow!"

Fire glared at him from where he hovered. "That's what you get for making the Pendant of Quakes go nuts."

Earth rubbed his nose, annoyance flashing in his eyes. "I think you broke my nose."

~Back with the Friends…few hours later~

"Rocky! I brought your favorite treat!" Cole tore down the path to where the dragons were dozing.

Six excited dragon heads promptly snapped upwards at this announcement. Zane suddenly skidded to a halt, surprise flashing across his eyes. "Since when were there six dragons?"

Nya squealed as she stroked a pretty blue baby dragon with white markings. "Who cares? She's adorable!"

Lloyd giggled as the other baby dragon, a green one with gold swirls, pinned him to the ground. "You mean they're adorable. Man, I wonder if Dad knows there's two baby dragons…hey! This one is a male!"

Chuckles escaped the four fully grown dragons as they watch the five freshmen and one kid ooh and ah over the two newly hatched dragons. Loud gasps escaped them when the female hatchling suddenly sneezed, water spraying out, soaking the friends.

Kai snapped his fingers excitedly. "That's it! We'll call her Brooke!"

Brooke warbled at him, clearly excited about the name. Unimpressed, the other baby dragon pawed at Lloyd, trying to get a name from him. Lloyd picked the little guy, noting that he was even smaller than Brooke. "Hmm, what kind of dragon are you, little guy?"

Flames snorted, finding it slightly hilarious that the young human didn't recognize the most powerful dragon in existence. Bending his head down, he quickly nudged the other dragon's green scales.

"Greenie!" All eyes turned to stare at Jay. "What? He has green scales. It's the perfect name for him!"

"Uh." Lloyd looked down to the hatchling. "What do you think? Is Greenie a good enough name for you?"

The now named Greenie quickly nodded his head yes, bouncing with excitement. Rocky sniffed the air, his eyes narrowing as he caught a whiff of something that he hadn't smelled in a millennia. Leaning over, he continued sniffing until he found it. Gingerly, the great Earth dragon pulled the pendant out of its hiding spot.

Cole yelped as he tried to pull the pendant back inside of his shirt. "Rocky! No! I don't want anyone bedsides my friends see it!"

The dragon snorted in disbelief as he dropped the pendant. Never before had one of Rocky's Chosen Friends felt the need to hide the pendant that allowed them to summon him to their side no matter where they are.

~Back with the Spiritia~

Earth rubbed his forehead as he stared at the orb, feeling as if another headache was about to come on. "Does the kid not know that no one besides us even know what the pendant truly is or something?"

Lightning shrugged as he practiced summoning lightning bolts to his finger tips. "Must not. He clearly doesn't realize the power get gives him over Rocky. He was the last of the Earth Dragon of Quakes if memory serves correctly."

"Never mind that my brothers. The two eggs that just hatched are of the other two elements. I highly sense that Brooke is supposed to be the new Water Dragon of Waves, and Greenie is the new Energy Dragon of Hope." Ice closed his eyes, as if double checking what it was he was sensing.

Murmurs rippled through the siblings as they eyed the new dragons. It had been millennia since there was one of each Elemental dragon to fill the roles of the Guardian Dragons. Energy placed his hand on the dusty table, his expression sober. "If that is the case, then that means that the prophesy needs to be fulfilled soon. The six Pendants of the Guardians must be found by the Last Guardians descendants with pure hearts, and soon."

Tension fell as they looked to the orb, worry crossing their faces. Time was running out for Ninjago…unless Cole's friends can find the rest of the Pendants.

~Back with the Friends, few hours later…School Library~

"Nope nothing in here about a magic pendant, or possible riddle answers." Jay closed the large Junior year history textbook shut, annoyance flashing across his face.

The friends all groaned as they similarly closed the various scrolls and books they had been scanning. Ever since they had found the pendant, they have been spending as much free time as they can manage researching the pendant and riddle. The problem was, so far they haven't found a thing about it. Cole shook his head as he went to put his scroll away. Bumping into an old lamp, Cole looked up and immediately noticed the light bulb screwed tightly into it. Like the one drinking fountain, the lamp has never worked, and no one remembers it ever working. But that wasn't what caught Cole's attention. What did catch his attention was the single word engraved into the bulb. _Electricity_. A gasp escaped Cole as he dropped the scroll out of shock.

Zane approached him, concern creasing his brow. "Cole? Are you ok?"

Cole nodded, pointing his finger right at the bulb. "I think I found the answer to the riddle. Electricity. It's used in every city, and it's highly dangerous."

Jay promptly began jumping up and down with excitement, "Well? What are you waiting for!? I bet you have to remove the bulb to get to something hidden inside of it!"

Cole bit his bottom lip as he pulled the bulb out of its socket slowly. Once it was loose, a single small scroll and another pendant, this one blue with what looked like golden nunchucks engraved into it, fell out. Cole quickly snatched up the scroll, ignoring the pendant. One was enough trouble. "Let's see here. _I can take different forms, but I am only one. I can be more delicate than glass, yet can sink mighty ships. I am known for my beauty but some call me cold.  
What am I?_"

"Seriously? All that work for another riddle?" Kai shook his head, dismay flooding his face.

Jay piped up, a frustrated frown on his face. "Don't forget, we also found another pendant…AH!" The last part was due to the fact the pendant, which no one as touched yet, had flown up suddenly, and attached itself to Jay's neck.

Zane quickly stopped his friends from trying to help Jay get it off. "I fear that it might be like the other pendant, and will zap anyone who is not Jay that tries touching it."

Groans immediately escaped the others. They quickly grabbed various books and scrolls to continue their research, this time with a new riddle to solve.

~Back with the Spiritia~

Lightning zipped around the room, cheering ecstatically. "Yeah! Jay is one of the chosen!"

There were a few groans from the others, but they didn't speak up, knowing that like Jay sometimes you just had to let Lightning go crazy…or else you can't survive him at all.

Earth lifted a hand up sagely, only the crazy smile on his face revealed that he was excited too. "Two of the Pendants of the Guardians of been found. Only four more to go. Hopefully they will be found before all of Ninjago is destroyed."

 **A/N: Ta-da! Hmm, looks like those pendants are more important than they realize. Also, it seems to be that Ninjago is in extreme danger. The two baby dragons actually is an idea that has been niggling the back of my mind since RandomDragon pointed out that they don't have any water dragons. So, there you go Nya! A dragon of your own. Plus Lloyd gets a dragon too!**

 **Till next time!**

 **SkyTalon**


	8. Chapter 7: Let's play Break the Ice

**A/N: Hello there! Time for us to question the logic of either our favorite ninjas or the mysterious Spiritia. Your choice. Seriously though…WHAT'S GOING THROUGH THEIR MINDS?!** _ **Vandalism**_ **, really guys?**

 **Warning: This story contains a high level of hilariousness and must be read with reader's discernment.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs! The vandalism was something that had to happen after I told Stormyskies8 where the third pendant was hidden…she pointed out that they would have to, uh, read and find out please!**

Chapter Seven: Have you ever played _Break the Ice_? Yeah, you don't actually break the ice, guys!

Cole glided across the ice rink, his mind more on puzzling over the most recent riddle than what Mr. Powell was telling them about ice skating. Jay zipped past Cole, skating backwards as he swiftly denied the ice a chance to trip him up. Zane was next to Nya has she slowly skated along, uncertain about her footing. Kai was still by the wall, clinging to it as he tried to get his feet back under him.

"Kai! Try moving away from the wall! This is simple gliding. Figure skating is next week with Ms. Powers!" Mr. Powell called out has he skated over to the unbalanced teen.

Kai gulped loudly and visibly, before moving away from the wall. Immediately, he face planted into the ice. Mr. Powell sighed, but before he could get any closer, Jay zipped up to Kai, followed closely by Cole and the others.

"You ok Kai?" Cole helped his friend back to his feet.

Kai stared at the ice, his eyes round with shock. "Ice."

Jay knitted his eyebrows in confusion. "Umm, yes? This is an Ice Skating Rink."

Kai fervently shook his head at his friends. "No. Ice." He jabbed his finger down at the ice as if that clarified everything up.

Zane frowned, worry creasing his brow. "Do you need ice Kai? You did hit your head pretty hard."

Kai scoffed, pointing to the ice again. "No. Ice."

Nya placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, concern flooding her eyes. "Kai? Speak to me. Do you need to visit Neuro?"

Kai shook his head again. "No." Reaching up, he grabbed Zane by the head and forced him down to the ice. "Ice. The riddle's answer is ice!"

"Oh…" "Uh, why didn't I think of that with my intelligence?" "Seriously?! We could have found the next treasure trove in one of our classrooms!? Come on!" "Kai, you idiot! I thought you had severely hurt your head!"

Cole paused, suddenly highly concerned about a little fact that none of the others were aware of… "Umm, how are we supposed to, you know? Get the chest out?"

Everyone paused, before looking down at the ice, where the word ice was neatly engraved into it. They knew it had to be the riddle's answer because it was the same handwriting as the word electricity. Zane shifted his weight, worry dancing in his eyes. "We'll discuss this later. With Lloyd. He's been helping us from the beginning. It seems wrong to leave him in the dark."

Mr. Powell suddenly cleared his throat loudly. "I still have a class to teach here. Up and at them. Come now, you can't stare at the ice forever you know. That picture's been there forever. It's not going anywhere."

"Picture!?" Cole and his friends quickly double-checked what they were looking at. Just like with their English class assignments where they had to distinguish between 'chicken scratch' and actual English, the lines of the letters wiggled and squirmed till it formed a strange looking picture. Zane sucked in a sharp breath, before whispering to the rest of the friends. "Hieroglyphics. A written language that uses pictures instead of letters. Not sure why we can read them though. It is even older than our ancestors' chicken scratch. Curious really."

They slowly stood up and skated away. Though they each kept returning to that spot, staring at the Hieroglyphic as if it were the most fascinating thing they've ever seen. Which it was since they knew that chances of another treasure chest hiding underneath the ice were extremely high…

…

Lloyd was just about bouncing. "This is amazing! We know where the next treasure trove is!"

Nya frowned as she folded her arms across her chest. "Yeah, but we can't exactly break the ice open to get it though."

Lloyd deflated at hearing that, realizing that the only girl in their group had a point. Jay tapped his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. "What we need is an excuse. Like the serpentine with the rocks. Still can't believe Sensei Wu got mad at us for that. We were only trying to defend the school while everyone was gone!"

Kai clapped a hand over his mouth, effectively shutting him up. "What we need to do is go over there, and see if we can't brainstorm an idea on what to do."

Murmurs of agreement promptly rippled through the group.

~A few Hours after Lights Out~

"Well, that just about wraps it up…so we'll be headed to bed now." Cole could feel his cheeks burning up as Kai finished explaining _why_ the school's ice rink was completely destroyed. Honestly though, it was the truth. Minus the whole treasure hunting part of course. Garmadon looked confused about the lightning shooting jet though… eh. The blundering skeletons should be enough to confirm that they were telling the truth. One of the said skeletons walked past, kicking its head, which it was also chasing. Multiple skeletons were frozen in place. Some were trying to put out different fires. Others were half drowned in water. Some were standing around spazzing out from electricity coursing their bodies. Some were even caught between boulders. All in all, it was a disaster zone.

Sensei rubbed his forehead, his eyebrows knitted together in puzzlement. "Detention, all five of you. Lloyd, Zane, your _parents_ will decide on your groundings." Zane whimpered at that, he typically didn't break rules. "As for the rest of you, I will have to contact your parents about this behavior."

The friends groaned, but didn't complain since they technically had been caught breaking a school rule, while destroying school property.

~Let's check on the Spiritia, shall we? ~  
Earth slowly blinked, before turning to face the others. "Did we miss something? Or did what I think just happen; happened?"

Lightning timidly raised his hand. "All in favor of winding back to where this all started, say Aye."

Fire immediately whacked his fellow spiritia. "We're not a democracy. If you _want_ to do something, you do it without voting." Fire reached out and quickly rewinded the orb. All of them were puzzled about what just happened.

Water shook her head. "Guys? If memory serves correctly, Earth and Lightning had something to do with what happened just now."

~Flashback! (The friends) ~

"Nya? Are you sure this is a good idea? It's past lights out!" Zane whispered worriedly for the umpteenth time.

Nya flicked her flashlight back so that it was shining on him. "Positive. Several of the older kids are constantly in there practicing their skating at the more convenient times. So, we have to take the _in_ convenient approach."

Kai arched his eyebrow at that. "Right. Nothing like sneaking out of our rooms, past lights out. You do know we're gonna get in a whole lot of trouble if we get caught? Right?"

Nya stubbornly turned her flashlight forward. "Then we won't get caught."

Cole groaned as he buried his head into his hands. "Nya…don't ever say that! You'll jinx us!"

Zane, who was carrying a sleepy Lloyd, suddenly snapped his head up, his eyes full of anxiety. "We're here. Let's try not to damage the door, or leave signs that we were here."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the friends as they froze staring at the cold, thick door that lead to the ice rink… the thick _supposed_ to be closed door that is. Alarmed, the friends did the only logical thing to do in this kind of situation, they charged head first into unidentified danger. Surprisingly, the ice rink was devoid of life. After shrugging their shoulders, they rushed over to the area with the hieroglyphic for ice. Once there, they started a staring contest with it.

Kai shifted slightly, worry creasing his brow. "Umm? Now what do we do?" No later than the question left his mouth, than Cole's pendant, which was in view for everyone to see, suddenly started glowing.

Cole jumped, before reaching up and catching a gold colored scythe that fell from…out of the pendant? "Ok…I guess we can use this to break the ice up to get the chest." With that said; Cole swung the scythe experimentally, flinching when it hit the ice hard, thudding loudly, while visible cracks shot across the ice.

Lloyd lifted his hands up to cover his ears briefly. "Cole…we need something _quieter_ than that!"

Jay's pendant then started glowing. Only instead of another weapon popping out, a… jet jumped out? Everyone stopped to stare at it, it was blue with lightning sparking all around it, then turned to stare at Jay. Nya placed her hands on her hips. "Jay…that is _not_ quieter than a scythe. That is noisier."

Jay promptly protested, waving his hands around wildly. "It wasn't me! It was the pendant!"

Zane scratched the back of his head. "Should we be concerned that we are potentially looking for more magical pendants that we don't even know how to use?"

They all looked to each other before quickly shrugging. "Nah."

…

Zane say the chest down next to the hole in the ice. A small frown crossed his face as he vaguely wondered what they were going to do about the giant hole in the ice.

"Thanks for doing the work for us!" A bony hand snagged the chest suddenly. Startled, they looked up to see skeletons posed and ready to fight.

"Seriously!?" Cole yelled as he sprung to his feet, the scythe still in his hand.

Jay scrambled into his jet, to see if it couldn't be used to help as well. "Cool. There's a button in here that's labeled lightning laser. Should I push it?"

Kai yelped as one of the skeletons tackled him to the ground. Without thinking about it, Kai clenched his fist, sending fire searing the armor the skeleton was wearing. Nya started in surprise, not expecting her older brother to shot shooting fire out of his fingers. It wasn't long until Zane figured out that he could freeze anything he touches, Jay could either use the jet to shoot lightning, or his fingers. Cole was burying them as quickly as they could, earth, dust and rocks, shooting everywhere. Nya herself was spraying water, flooding the ice rink which was breaking up as they fought. Lloyd somehow summoned a giant explosive green ball of light that destroyed several of the skeletons. A four armed skeleton grabbed the chest and left, laughing to himself. Zane watched him go with the tiniest of smirks on his face.

"Retreat! I have what we came for!" Samukai yelled as he charged off to who knows where.

Several of the skeletons were able to follow him out of there. Of course, most of them were still stuck, or trying to put out the fires. Zane's friends looked to each other, disappointment dancing in their eyes. They had lost the chest before they had ever opened it. With a flash of light, the scythe and jet both disappeared again.

Nya sighed, tears pricking at her eyes. "We better get back to bed."

"Bed sounds like a good idea, since that _is_ where you're supposed to be." Misako suddenly appeared in the doorway, with Gramadon and Sensei Wu. All of them had their arms folded.

Lloyd took an instinctive step backwards, guilt flooding his eyes. "Duh duh duh. We're in trouble now. Hi Mom, Dad…Uncle…umm, it's not what it looks like?"

"Oh really? Then what does it look like to you?" Sensei Wu frowned, disappointment blazing in his eyes.

~What is Happening Now~

Cole flung himself on his bed, disappointment flashing in his eyes. "We failed. The pendants must be even more important than what we thought 'cause they were after this one."

Kai sucked in a deep breath, worry suddenly flaring into his eyes. "Man…the serpentine must have been after the pendants too. We really need to pick up our game. Who knows how many more are hidden around the place."

Zane sat down on the edge of his bed, a wry smile on his face. "Well then. It really should be a good thing that they just got an empty chest."

Nya, who was sitting on her brother's bed, promptly arched her eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about Zane?"

Zane reached up to his pajamas collar…and pulled out a white pendant with gold shruikens engraved into it. With a flick of his wrist, a scroll fell out of his sleeve. "Apparently that lesson on magic, particularly the sleight of hand, was very useful. We're still ahead of them."

Instant cheering. Lloyd began shaking Zane's arm, bouncing in place. "Read it! Read it!"

Zane cleared his throat as he unrolled the scroll. "I destroy everything I touch, but my destruction brings new life. I am considered a sign of hope, but if you get too close I will hurt you. What am I?"

Lloyd frowned, puzzlement creasing his brow. "I don't get it. And the fact I think the answer is not in the library, will make this really hard." Everyone turned to stare at him. "What? None of the answers were in the books or scrolls so far. Which can only mean that none of the riddles answers are in there. Right?"

Groans immediately escaped the friends. Nya rubbed her eyes as she leapt back up to her feet. "I have to go to bed. Night guys."

"Night Nya!" "Night sis!"

~Meanwhile with the Serpentine and Skeletons~

Samukai proudly sat the chest in front of the large altar, the five serpentine generals crowding around him. Pythor rolled his eyes. "You better not think that just cause _you_ were able to get your hands on a Guardian Pendant, does not meant you are better than the rest of us."

Samukai rolled his eyes. "So I heard. Let's just crack this thing open."

Several minutes later, they rubbed their hands together greedily, as the lid slowly lifted open. Scales froze, his eyes widening in shock as he looked into the chest. "Empty!?"

 **A/N: Done! Yeah, Zane tricked everybody into thinking that the skeletons had the pendant and next riddle, but really he had it. So yeah… we now have three pendants down, and three to go. Also I very nearly rewrote this whole thing so that you wouldn't know what happened…but I decided that would just be mean…and you need the laughs about what is apparently quieter than a scythe…**

 **Till next time!**

 **SkyTalon**


	9. Chapter 8: The Fireplace and Kidnapping

**A/N: Time to get our favorite ninja in more trouble! Seriously though…I have got to stop sending them to destroy school property. Oh well. No one will miss that brick…right? Ugh. At least it's only one brick and not the entire fireplace. Also, this is during detention too…. HOW DID THE TEACHERS NOT NOTICE!? Um, ignore that. This is gonna be fun. For the ninja. Not the oblivious teachers. Can't think of anything else to say…**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! The riddle belongs to RandomDragon and Cat! Thank you both!**

Chapter Eight: When cleaning the fireplace, the first step is to pull it apart when no one is looking. Wait. That _isn't_ the first step? Oops.

Cole concentrated on burying the dummy, spraying the dirt everywhere, but on the dummy he was supposed to hit. Garmadon dodged yet another fistful of dirt that nearly whacked him in the head. All of the freshmen were trying to knock down the row of dummies…and failing as their powers proved be harder to control than expected. Kai growled angrily as he punched the dummy with his burning fist…and yet somehow managed to not burn the dummy at all. Nya couldn't even summon her water, and Zane had already frozen Sensei Wu in place. Jay was trying his hardest to shock the dummy, and not Misako…but, uh that wasn't necessarily happening. To say that Power Training had a whole new meaning to the five freshmen, would be understating the facts. They had gone from zero to negative six overnight. Didn't help that the other students keep asking how they did it.

"Cole! Concentrate! I am not the dummy!" Garmadon growled as he tried to avoid Cole's way.

Sensei Wu glanced over, a huge grin crossing his face. "Really? I thought you were a dummy." Garmadon yelled, before quickly swatting his younger brother on the arm. "Not in front of the students!"

Misako rolled her eyes at her husband and brother-in-law. "Knock it off you two. Honestly. I think I preferred it when you were spread out between the students during Power Training and not just trying to work with these five."

Cole frowned at that, wondering if they really were that bad at controlling their newfound powers. A loud explosion suddenly shook the ground, followed by a hurried apology. "Sorry! I sneezed!" Cole glanced back at Lloyd, to find the kid sniveling while he waved his hand around to clear the smoke from whatever it was that he has since then destroyed. Misako rolled her eyes as she walked over, pressing a hand against his forehead. "Sick. Maybe we should have you wait a day before we do the last part of your punishment."

Zane looked up from where he was trying to, and failing at, defrosting Sensei Wu. "What are we doing tonight anyways?"

Cole crossed his fingers that it wasn't cleanup after the dragons. Talk about stinky! Garmadon folded his arms, a smirk crossing his face. "You will be cleaning all of the school's fireplaces today in detention."

Jay went round eyed at that, panic crossing his face. "But that… this place as at least a hundred different fireplaces!"

Misako rolled her eyes as she looked to the sky. "Not really. Just one in the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. As well as the headmaster's office, and some of the dorms. In all there are about thirty different fireplaces. I suggest you eat your dinner quickly if you're still going to finish your homework on time."

Everyone groaned as they looked to each other. Two weeks of detention had them regretting that they had ever found their powers. The other students didn't mind since that just meant that they didn't have to clean various things in the school. Cole squared off his shoulders, before turning back to look at the dummy he was again, supposed to be burying instead of Garmadon.

~Several Hours Later~

Cole scrubbed at the filthy fireplace, ash, soot, and dust covering him from the twenty-nine fireplaces he had already cleaned that day. Nya suddenly placed her dust cloth down on top of Cole's head. Annoyed, Cole swatted at it, shooting her a quick glare. "Watch it Nya. I'm kinda busy trying to clean here."

"Fire." Nya whispered as she pointed to the hieroglyphic engraved into the brick fireplace.

Kai was the one who spoke up, glancing behind him as if double checking that they were alone. "Hurry. Misako should be back from checking on Lloyd any minute now."

With that said, the five friends quickly clawed and pried at the bricks. After glancing around multiple times to double check that Misako hadn't arrived yet, they finally removed five of the bricks. Kai reached in, pulling out the red pendant with a gold sword engraved on it, and the scroll with the next riddle. They quickly begun the task of putting the bricks back where they belonged. As Cole shoved the last brick into place, it crumbled into his hand like dust. "Umm… I think I have superstrength. Unless the brick was of poor quality."

What?!" All eyes landed on the mess that used to be a brick. Zane cleared his throat, anxiety dancing in his eyes. "Quick, see if you can't use your powers to summon a rock big enough to fit into the hole."

Cole frowned as he concentrated hard on what needed done. A moment later, a good sized rock was sitting where the brick was supposed to go. Misako walked up to them right then, a smile on her face. "Good job. You finished cleaning the fireplaces. I hope you learned your lesson. Now off to bed with you."

"Yes ma'am." They quickly bolted for it, glad that she hadn't noticed the scroll or pendant.

~A few minutes later, their dorm~

"Lloyd! Wake up!" Cole jumped onto the kid's new bed.

Nya quickly climbed into her brother's bed, a huge grin on her face. The sick ten year old, he had thrown up during dinner, blinked sleep from his eyes as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Cole? Why are you acting like Jay?"

Jay wrapped his blanket around himself, blinking in surprise. "Uh. He's right. You're acting like me…cool! Oh! That reminds me. We found the next pendant and riddle. We sort of grabbed it while we were there and instead of waiting for you…"

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, puzzled about what Jay just said. "How does Cole acting like you remind you have that?…DON'T ANSWER THAT!"

Zane spoke up, turning his attention to Kai. "Where is the pendant anyways?"

Kai blinked before suddenly letting off a small exclamation of oh, pulling the pendant out from under his shirt. Nya pulled the new riddle out from his pocket without asking, quickly unrolling it. "I am required by all, both living and machine and keep the balance of all things. Some say they have too much of me, others say that they have too little. What am I?"

"No one is surprised that it's a riddle, are they?" Lloyd asked before he broke off into a coughing fit.

Zane, Kai, Cole, and Jay looked at each other wondering why it was they were expecting it to be a riddle. "The last three were riddles. It kind of makes since that this was going to be a riddle to."

All heads snapped up to the only girl in the room, who was thoughtfully falling asleep on top of her brother. Kai quickly shook Nya awake, a smile crossing his face. "Come on. You need to get to bed. We have that field trip in Random Class tomorrow, remember?"

Groans immediately escaped everyone. Apparently, the school had its own power source, which the school sometimes held field trips to, when the Random Class was on maintenance of power plants. This was going to be fun.

~Next Day~

"…And this is where they pumped the water now turned energy into the generator…" Mr. Powell droned on, unaware that his students were falling asleep on their toes. Well, five of them were.

Skylor quickly nudged Cole awake, while Dareth stopped Jay and Kai from hitting the floor. They weren't the only ones who noticed that the freshmen were falling asleep. Neuro helpfully placed a hand on Zane's back to help steady him, while Ash pulled his arm around his neck, adding much needed support. Paleman and Griffin rushed over to help Dareth hold the two up, while Chamille and Tox grasped Nya. An overly excited Lloyd suddenly appeared out of nowhere, tugging on Cole's sleeve. "Hey Cole. What's up?"

Cole nearly froze, but somehow managed to keep following the teacher through the room. "Lloyd. What are you doing here?"

Lloyd wrinkled his nose at that question. "I got tired of being on bed rest."

"Seriously!?" Neuro hissed as he glared at the boy.

Lloyd ducked his head as a simple mumble of sorry escaped him. Kai woke up enough to pull the kid close to him. "It's fine. We can watch him piece of cake."

"You better be right about that!" Shade growled as he eyed the small child.

"We totally can do that!" Jay chirped up as he shook his head awake.

~Four hours Later~

"And that ends the tour. Now then. Does anyone have any questions?" Mr. Powell turned around to face his students, confusion quickly flashing across his face upon seeing that Lloyd was there.

"Why yesss…how about you all go over into the control booth and sssstay there while we place thissss place on lockdown." Pythor suddenly materialized out of nowhere, with an army of skeletons and serpentine to back him up.

Mr. Powell promptly paled at his appearance, not entirely sure on what to do. Before any of the students could think of how to get out of this situation, they were seized upon and tied up. As their attackers were locking them up in control booth, Scales suddenly flung his arm out, stopping the underlings from placing the six youngest members of the group in there. "Wait. I don't trussst thessse ssssix at all. Place them in the back of the van."

Cole felt all color drain from his face at that. A large brown burlap sack was quickly thrown over his head. A minute later he felt himself being carried down to who-knows-where. Cole strained his ears to listen for any noise through the running of the noisy generators. The only sound he recognized was the repeated sound of doors opening and closing. The gagged teen frantically began tugging on his bonds, trying to free himself.

~With the Spiritia~

Earth bellowed with rage as he slammed a fist against the table. "So close! So, so close! They were _literally_ standing next to the next pendant! Ugh!"

Ice calmly placed a hand on his shoulder, amusement dancing in his eyes. "You do know that we can send four of the Guardian Pets to help them right?"

Lightning immediately perked up. "Which four? I hope that Teal is one of them!"

Water whacked him on the back of his head, annoyance flashing in her eyes. "Lightning! We can send Teal, Chayton, Phoenix, and Manu. We can't send Calli though." Disappointment edged her voice at the mention of Calli, a clear sign of favoritism.

Earth nodded, relief flashing in his eyes. "I'll call Manu immediately. Lightning, call Teal. Ice.."

Ice tilted his head to the side, his countenance calm. "I presume you want me to call Chayton?"

Fire grinned as he flexed his fingers. "I'll get Phoenix. He's way better than the others."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Earth groaned as he placed laid his head down on the table. "This is going to take awhile."

 **A/N: Hey, lookie here. I just wrote a cliffhanger! Sorry, I had to kidnap them…actually, that wasn't supposed to happen… I wonder who these supposed pets are. Ok, you all should know who Chayton is…if not look it up in Babble Baby Names A-Z (website) Chayton technically is not an OC. I have merely changed his name because it was not at all creative.**

 **See you around! Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	10. Chapter 9: Escape and Ditching

**A/N: Hello! Time for the ninja to ditch school! I am so excited for this chapter! *squeals excitedly* I hope you all enjoy this one. Cause you know, I am soo excited for this one.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! By the way, Chayton is not an OC! He is an actual character from the show that I've renamed!**

Chapter Nine: How to Ditch School for the Year

Cole slowly came to, turning his head to the side to see that Lloyd was curled up next to him, round eyed with fear. Oh, and the kid was gagged and bound. Shuffling around, he strained his head to see if he couldn't locate all of his friends, and see where they were at. A frown tried to turn the corners of his lips down, but a gag in his mouth blocked it. Growling, Cole spotted Kai and Nya near a large door, and Zane was underneath a filthy window that looked like it hasn't been watched in a hundred years. Jay was in the center of the room, softly whimpering through his gag in fear as he stirred awake himself. The room they were in must have been some sort of storage warehouse for some company at some point. It was covered in dust and cobwebs, and had large crates scattered everywhere. Kai must have wakened up right then, since he was starting to squirm like crazy. Just then, a serpentine walked in through a smaller side door. Strolling forward with purpose, he walked over to Kai and kicked him in the back.

"Knock it off _prissssoner_!" He angrily hissed as he glared at the young teen, before spinning around to glare at all of the frightened kids. "That goesss for all of you! We don't want a sssingle peep out of any of you!" With that said, he left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Terrified, Cole slowly and painfully pulled his knees up to his chest, tears streaming down his face. This wasn't good at all. Jay, always the most energetic out of the friends seemed to shrink into himself, suddenly even more afraid for himself. Cole closed his eyes as he struggled to keep his tears at bay, knowing that the much younger Lloyd would start up if he realized what Cole already knew. There was no escape for them.

It wasn't until nightfall that they had visitors that appeared to take pity on them. Cole was the first to notice that something was off. He could feel something biting and yanking on his bonds, loosening them greatly. Heart bounding loudly in his chest, Cole twisted his hands, finding them moving much easier than what they did earlier. Amazed, he slowly and carefully pulled his hands out of their bonds. Sitting up, he looked down to see in the dim light that the rope had rubbed skin away, leaving his wrists raw. Pulling his gag off, Cole grimaced before quickly untying his feet. A soft hooting sound caught his attention. Cole twisted around to find a small Burrowing Owl standing next to him, looking as if it were extremely proud of itself.

Cole gently ran a finger through its feathers. "Hey there. Did you untie me just now?" Another soft hoot as the owl nodded his head.

Zane suddenly stood up, a falcon resting on his shoulder. Kai also moved quickly, a Robin perched on his head. Jay scrambled to his feet, a Mountain Bluebird hopping around his feet. Turning to face Lloyd, Cole quickly untied the ten year old. A rather unexpected, and loud, thump suddenly shook the air. Freezing, everyone turned to look at the siblings. Apparently, Kai had untied Nya, who then tried to stand, only for her legs to give out from underneath her. Snatching the owl up, Cole scrambled up the stacked crates next to the window. Pushing on it, he used his superstrength to force the locked window open. "We have to go now! Before they send someone down to check on us!"

Zane and Kai helped Nya and Lloyd to climb up the unstable makeshift ladder to the window. Jay scrambled up after them, panic gleaming in his eyes.

~Power Plant, 11: 58 p.m. ~

Cole frowned as he noticed that the power plant was completely empty, minus the guards that were patrolling the area. Nya scooted over, a small frown on her face. "Need me to distract the guards so we can get in and rescue our teacher and classmates?"

Zane quickly shook his head, nearly dislodging the falcon from his shoulder. "No. They are not here anymore. I do not sense their presence."

Kai growled as he punched the wall. "Zane's right. I don't sense them either."

Cole twisted around, a sigh of disappointment escaping him. "Ok then. I guess we should head back to the school."

Lloyd immediately grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Wait. The serpentine were interested in this place. Which means that one of the pendants must be in there somewhere. We have to find it before they do!"

Jay nervously laughed as he glanced back down at the patrolling guard down below. "How do we know that they haven't found it yet?"

Cole sighed as he turned to look at the long hallway down below them and to the side a bit. "We don't. But it shouldn't hurt to at least try. Anyone who isn't with me stay here."

Two seconds later, all six of the friends were dropping down into the hallway that the serpentine had taken them from earlier. Immediately, Lloyd suddenly noticed something highly interesting. Amongst multiple doodles on the one wall was the hieroglyphic for energy. Excited, Cole used his superstrength to pull a large chunk of the metal wall off. Reaching inside, Lloyd pulled out a green pendant with a gold katana etched into it, and a scroll. The pendant quickly jumped around the young kid's neck, causing him to squeal loudly. Tensing, the friends leapt up onto the ceiling, just as several guards came running into the hallway.

~Hill near the Power Plant, 12:15 a.m. ~

Nya sat down on the ground, exhaustion filling her eyes. "Can we please take a break from hopefully saving all of Ninjago? We don't know why they even want the pendants."

Kai arched his eyebrow upward as he stared at his sister in disbelief. "Sis! The pendants have unexplainable magical powers! I think that is reason enough to keep them out of their hands."

Zane quickly pressed a finger against his lips. "Lloyd is asleep. As we should be. It is too late to argue right now. Perchance after we rest up, we can see things a little clearer."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the tired teens as one by one they nodded off.

~Dawn, sunup, sunrise…etc. ~

Cole groaned as the sun shone right into his eyes, forcing him to wake up. And not just him either, all of his friends groaned as they rolled over, pushing themselves up into sitting positions. Lloyd rubbed his stomach, pain crossing his face. "Do we have anything to eat? Our last meal was a _light_ lunch during the tour, which was who knows how long ago."

Zane rubbed sleep out of his eyes as he automatically responded. "Two days, three hours, forty minutes, and fifteen seconds….sixteen seconds…seventeen seconds…."

Kai quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. "Yeah, yeah. We get the idea Zane. No need to count every second."

Nya ran her fingers through her messy hair. "We need to eat soon, or else we're gonna get sick from lack of nutrition."

Groans escaped everyone has they settled in a circle, sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the ground. Lloyd pulled out the scroll, quickly unrolling it. Leaning forward, the tired, starving friends stared at the new riddle. Nya frowned, confusion crossing her face. "You swim in me. I am needed for all living things. What am I? Seriously? The answer is obviously water! And I think I did see a hieroglyphic in the school's swimming pool."

~With the Spiritia~

All eyes turned to Water, their eyebrows shooting upwards. Energy folded his arms as he scoffed at her. "And you said that my riddle was too straight forward!"

Water rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Hey! It got the job done!"

Earth shook his head, pushing the arguing siblings apart. "Just wait till they read my riddle."

~Back with the Friends~

Jay suddenly snapped his head up, nearly dislodging the Mountain Bluebird from the top of his head. "Where did the Gold Eagle came from?"

Startled, everyone turned around to notice that a gold eagle was perched on Lloyd's shoulder. Nya immediately crossed her arms in a huff. "Oh! Come on! I'm the only one that doesn't have a bird shadow now!"

Cole smirked as he pointed out a little fact. "Burrowing Owls are nocturnal. The little guy is obviously asleep in his…"

Kai pointed straight at Cole's hair. "In your hair? He's actually cute when he's sleeping."

Cole groaned as he reached up and pulled the sleeping owl out of his hair. "Great. Ok, here's the plan. Once the sun goes down we'll sneak into the school's kitchen to grab a bite to eat. After that is done, we go to the swimming pool to get the next pendant. Nya? You're our best swimmer so you should be the one to go get it."

Nods all around. A plan was a plan, and no one could see anything wrong with this one.

~That Night, Swimming Pool, 9:47 p.m. ~

Nya propelled herself back to the surface, shaking her head fiercely. "It's too dark down there. I need light. Think you guys can…you know?"

All five boys nodded their heads as they pulled out the pendants. A minute later, bright lights filled the room, blinding everyone in there. The lights were black, blue, white, red, and green in color. Nya dove back down again, quickly swimming over to the large tile that had water written in it in hieroglyphics. Grasping the tile, she pulled it up, biting the bottom of her lips to prevent herself from gasping at the strain. Sitting it to the side, she picked up the small treasure chest sitting underneath it. Careful not to bump the lock, she quickly swam to the surface. Kai quickly helped his sister out of the water. Shivering, Nya sat the chest down next to Zane's feet, before hurrying into the girls changing room to change out of her swimsuit and back into her clothes.

Kai waited impatiently for her to come back out. The second she appeared, she quickly swiped her finger next to the lock. As expected, the lock unlocked, opening the chest. Inside was a blue pendant with a maroon stripe and a gold trident engraved into it….and a scroll. Nya picked up the pendant, which quickly jumped up onto her neck. Zane unrolled the scroll, clearing his throat loudly in preparation to read the riddle. "Go to the broken drinking fountain that has the saying, _thirst after knowledge_ above it. It is a secret passageway that will lead you to the answers you are looking for."

~Back with the Spiritia~

"Earth!"

Earth shrugged, a smirk crossing his face. "I didn't tell them which questions we have the answers to."

Fire groaned as he banged his head against the wall. "Honestly! It was supposed to be a riddle for a reason! That way if someone that isn't the prophesied ones find it…no one can find _us_!"

~Back with the Friends, at the broken drinking fountain, 10:12 p.m. ~

Jay bounced excitedly as he looked over the fountain. "I wonder if they know why my birth parents abandoned me at a junkyard! That would be awesome!"

Everyone turned to stare at him. Shaking her head, Nya turned her attention back to the fountain. "At least we now know why it's always been broken…"

Kai blinked as he reached to a piece that didn't quite make sense for a drinking fountain. It was a dragon's maw, snapped shut tight. "I wonder if this piece can open to look like its roaring…Ahh!" The last part was as the metal dragon's maw opened, so did the floor beneath them.

Screaming, they freefell towards who knows where, the wind ripping their voices from them quickly. The five birds that have been following them all day dove into the hole, followed closely by a beautiful swan.

 **A/N: Done! Next chapter, they meet the spiritia! And we finally learn what exactly they are…and we will learn about the prophesy too. So, till next time!**

 **SkyTalon**


	11. Chapter 10: Cleaning and fixing a ship

**A/N: Hello! Time to figure out what's going on here! I mean seriously? Is no one wondering why the ninja are falling down a giant hole in the middle of their school's hallway? Also…we get to meet the spiritia in person! And we can question Sensei Wu's ability to observe his surroundings. Actually, we're questioning everyone's ability to observe their surroundings. By the way…everyone still thinks that the ninja are prisoners for the serpentine. The serpentine thinks their back at school.** _ **We**_ **know that in reality….their falling down a mystery hole.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Ten: Chores?! Seriously?! Can we make it fly?

 _Previously on the test sent me here?!..._

 _Kai blinked as he reached to a piece that didn't quite make sense for a drinking fountain. It was a dragon's maw, snapped shut tight. "I wonder if this piece can open to look like its roaring…Ahh!" The last part was as the metal dragon's maw opened, so did the floor beneath them._

 _Screaming, they freefell towards who knows where, the wind ripping their voices from them quickly. The five birds that have been following them all day dove into the hole, followed closely by a beautiful swan._

Cole coughed as his voice ripped away. The whistling wind rushing past him; as he plummeted to his death definitely didn't help the matter at all. Glancing down the dark hole that he was plummeting down, Cole tried to see if he couldn't spot something that indicated that the drop was going to end soon. He couldn't see anything. Grimacing, he tilted his head up to see the six birds diving down the chute after them. _Did they have a death wish?_ Before he could think of anything to say to his friends, the tunnel-like drop suddenly widened to more fit a large cavern.

 _Splash!_ Cole scrambled to his feet, annoyed that they had landed in a shallow pool of water. Kai lifted his hand up, quickly catching it on fire illuminating the large cave they were in. It appeared to be just your average cave, minus an entrance or exit that wasn't in the ceiling. Stalagmites and stalactites covered the area like a dragon's sharp fangs ready to bite them in half. The shallow pool of water they had landed in actually was much larger than they originally thought, covering the entire floor of the cave. The most interesting thing in the cave was the large, abandon pirate ship that appeared to be centuries old and unfit for sea. Or storing anything in it, if the gigantic torn holes in the bottom of it said anything. Something soft landed on Cole's head, startling him. Glancing around quickly, he noted that each of his friends had a bird resting on either their shoulders or heads. Zane had the Falcon, while Nya had the swan. Kai had the robin, while Lloyd had the gold eagle. Jay nervously waved at him, glancing over at the mountain bluebird sitting on his shoulder. Cole sighed as he realized that meant that the burrowing owl was sitting on top of him.

Lloyd spoke up, fear and exhaustion flooding his voice. "What do we do now Cole?"

Cole bit the inside of his cheek as he looked around the area. "We need to rest. It's way too late to do anything. The only possible dry spots that I can see would be the upper floors of the pirate ship."

Nodding in agreement, the bewildered friends followed him to the ship. Cole just hoped he wasn't leading them to their dooms.

~Bridge of the ship, Late Morning~

Nya was the first one awake. Stretching, she glanced over to her brother and friends, wondering if she should wake them up. The strange birds were nestled against their human counterparts, sleeping soundly as if this was normal. Standing up slowly, so as not to make the boards creak underneath her, she walked over to the large filthy and broken window that used to give what she could only imagine was a gorgeous view of the sea. It was when she was standing in front of what was left of the window; that she noticed that there was a BRAND NEW scroll with the same writing on it as the other scrolls sitting between two spokes in the rotten steering wheel. Ok... she knows what to do now.

"GET UP NOW! WE HAVE A NEW SCROLL! UP! UP!" She grabbed and shook her brother hard all the while screaming at the top of her lungs. The swan that was following her dutifully around began honking loudly, waking the other birds up…minus the burrowing owl.

Eyes snapping open, everyone sprang up, not caring if the boards creaked under their weight. Cole picked up the sleeping owl, not wanting anyone to step on it by accident. Kai grabbed his sister by the arm, dragging her over to the others. "Read it! Read it!"

Nya laughed, before unrolling it. "Hello there. If you are reading this that is because we placed it where you would hopefully notice it in the morning when you wake up. We would be meeting right now and answering questions…but we have a slight dilemma. It has occurred to us that while the old Guardian Headquarters is a perfect place for us, it is inhabitable for humans. Since as humans you can fix the place up better than we can… would you mind fixing the _Destiny Bounty_ for us? Sign; Earth, Lightning, Ice, Fire, Energy, and Water. Six spiritia that are anxious to meet you."

Zane narrowed his eyes, confusion written on his face. "What are spiritia?"

Jay bounced on his heels, looking highly excited about this new challenge. "I have no idea. But! I bet if we clean this place, we can find clues…or better yet! Find the actual spiritia!"

Cole crossed his arms, disbelief crossing his features. "You want to do chores for six mysterious beings that we never meet before?"

Lloyd groaned as he sank to the ground. "What about breakfast!? I'm hungry!"

Zane glanced, worry creasing his brow. "We don't have anything to eat. Last night we thought we would be joining our classes today, so we didn't grab anything for the morning. Perchance we should do what they ask of us. At least for now."

Jay suddenly grinned maniacally, still bouncing on his heels. "Yeah! And we can make it so that it can fly! I mean…that talk about Guardians, makes one wonder if they think we have something special that can make us into these so called Guardians."

His friends looked at him for about a minute before bursting out laughing. Shaking his head, Kai placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. We better start cleaning. At least that will give us something to do. Nice imagination though, Jay."

…

Cole pushed the last of the wood planks up against the last hole that needed covered. After they had decided to fix it up, it would make for a great place to hangout if it weren't destroyed, they had farther back in the cave found an old rotten door labeled repair shed. Upon opening it, they found everything they needed to fix the ship like new. And everything was strangely new looking, as if it had only been recently refilled. Cole picked up the hammer he had been using and quickly hammered the nails in. Humming, he stepped back to examine his workmanship. For being new at this, he certainly had a knack for making the ship sea-worthy.

"Cole! Watch out!" Kai came running in the large room, losing control on his footing. Then again, Jay had tied two sponges to Kai's feet. Kai was supposedly mopping the filthy floors.

Cole thought he was having fun…then again; Cole was having fun testing out his superstrength as he fixed the ship. All of them were having fun figuring out how to use their powers to speed the process up. And how to use them to update the place. Let's just say somehow the old fashioned oil lamps had turned into electric lights screwed tightly into the ceilings, and a few on the walls. Complete with light switches. "Careful Kai!" Cole stepped back to let the fiery teen pass by him.

Kai crashed into the wall, laughing. "This place is huge! I mean seriously. It has a full sized kitchen, a large dining room, seven bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a large library, and a large storage room full of different teas. There is also another closet like room full of weapons and armor, an actual garage with, get this, Jay's jet in it. As well as several other strange vehicles. Then there are two extra large rooms. One is close enough to the armory, and has practice dummies and such in it. I think it used to be the practice room or an indoor gym. The other one is this room. Jay reckons he can turn it into a wreck room of sorts."

Cole nodded, a grin dancing on his face. "That's cool. How's the new bridge coming along? Or the umm, rocket boosters?" Jay was determined to make the ship fly.

Kai shook his head, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Don't ask me. I have been avoiding those areas just so I won't get the nerd talk."

Cole chuckled as Lloyd wandered into the room. "Nya wants the towels, dish cloths, hand towels, sheets, pillow cases, and blankets thoroughly washed. I don't know how. Can I have help please?"

"Sure thing kid. I just finished all of the floors." Kai pulled the sponges off of his feet.

Cole picked up the toolbox at his feet, nodding his head in agreement. "Give me a moment. I just have to go over the loose floorboards in the one bedroom then I can help too."

"Thanks guys!" Lloyd scurried out of the room to locate all of the things that needed washed that the previous owners had left apparently.

~About One o'clock in the afternoon~

Cole sat the basket of clean, and dried; cloths down, breathing in deeply as he filled his nostrils the best thing he had ever smelled. "Dumplings…turkey stew…noodles…hmm egg rolls. Cake…apple pie… pumpkin pie… peach cobbler." Cole glanced over at his companions, to find them staring at him funny like. "What? I can stare off into space if I want to!"

Kai shook his head as he shifted his basket. "Cole…you were talking out loud. And I can smell those things too."

Lloyd titled his head, sniffing the air. "I think it's coming from the dining room." With that said, they dropped the baskets onto the ground, bolting towards the said room.

Upon entering, they found the others already in there…as well as the six spiritia. The table was laden with several dishes, including the ones that Cole had listed, as well as several others. All six birds were awake and perched on top of six different backs of six chairs. A seventh chair with an extra high back sat at the end…and was empty. Six settings had been set out for the friends. Starving, they dove into their seats, filling their plates and bowls with various dishes. Settling down, they quickly began shoving food into their eager mouths.

Earth cleared his throat loudly, drawing their attentions. "Ah yes. I see that you appreciate what we…" Ice made a loud disapproving noise in his throat. Earth glared at him, before turning back to face the friends. "Fine, Ice here made the meal set up before you. I am presuming that you need introductions? I am Earth, second eldest spiritia."

Ice stepped forward, a warm smile on his face. "I am Ice, eldest spiritia."

Fire smirked as he folded his arms, leaning back slightly. "Fire, third oldest spiritia."

Water twisted her wrist around as she did a fancy bow towards them. "Water, third youngest spiritia."

Lighting bounced up and down as he looked to Jay. "Lightning, second youngest spiritia."

Energy sighed as he looked towards Lloyd, as if begging for him to help him out or something. "Energy, youngest spiritia."

Earth pointed to the burrowing owl above Cole's head. "That is Manu. He is the Burrowing Owl of the Guardian of the Earth."

Ice nodded, before pointing to the falcon that was above Zane. "That is Chayton. He is the Falcon of the Guardian of Ice."

Fire nodded to the robin above Kai's head. "That is Phoenix. He is the Robin of the Guardian of Fire."

Water ran her fingers through the swan's feathers, a smile on her face. "This is Calli. She is the Swan of the Guardian of Water."

Lightning feed a piece of bread to the mountain bluebird. "This is Teal. She is the Mountain Bluebird of the Guardian of Lightning."

Energy jerked his head towards the last of the birds, the gold eagle that was attached to Lloyd. "Which just leaves Arnett. He is, of course, the Gold Eagle of the Guardian of Energy."

Earth turned to face them, his eyes stern. "We don't need your names. We already know who you are. Kai; Guardian of Fire, Cole; Guardian of Earth, Jay; Guardian of Lightning, Zane, Guardian of Ice, Nya; Guardian of Water, and finally, Lloyd; Guardian of Energy. Finish your lunch then meet us back in the library. I am sure you have questions about all of this."

 **A/N: Done! Ta-da! They are now with the spiritia! And our favorite ninja now have our favorite flying pirate ship. Yeah! Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	12. Chapter 11: Q&A Time

**A/N: Hello! Hmm, time for the Q &A session with our favorite ninja and the mysterious Spiritia that will be solving the questions about who they are for us. Also, a lot can go wrong during a Q&A session if the Q group doesn't quite understand what it is the A group does know. Oh boy.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Eleven: The much awaited Q&A session…which doesn't go as planned

 _Previously on The Test sent me here!?..._

 _Earth turned to face them, his eyes stern. "We don't need your names. We already know who you are. Kai; Guardian of Fire, Cole; Guardian of Earth, Jay; Guardian of Lightning, Zane, Guardian of Ice, Nya; Guardian of Water, and finally, Lloyd; Guardian of Energy. Finish your lunch then meet us back in the library. I am sure you have questions about all of this."_

Cole wasn't sure what he was expecting. But for sure six literal strangers knowing his name and possibly even more about himself than he did was not it at all. Which was why he was now freaking out alongside his friends. Zane eventually sucked in a deep breath, calming himself down.

"We best finish lunch and meet up with them like they asked." Zane picked up his cup of water, unease on his face.

Silence fell as the friends quickly and quietly finished their lunch, wondering what kind of stuff these so called spiritia knew…

~Library, the one that we always see the spiritia in, only it's clean and organized. Around Two o'clock~

Cole folded his arms as he plopped down in of the comfy chairs they had placed into the library for when their reading. "We're here. Now I believe in the scroll that lead us here it mentioned that you have some answers to questions?"

Every one of the spiritia groaned and turned to look at Earth as if it were _his_ fault. Earth shrugged, before settling in sitting position mid-air. "Please, raise your hand if you come up with a question. I am sure you all have plenty of them."

Jay immediately shot his hand in the air, bouncing in his seat. Cole whacked his forehead when Lightning called upon him. Jay grinned as he settled back into his chair. "Why did my birth parents drop me off at a junkyard?"

Lightning blinked, clearly not expecting that kind of question. "Uh…we actually don't know why they did that…or that they did that in the first place. Next question?"

Cole and his friends glanced at each other quietly wondering who should go next. Lloyd answered their question by raising his hand nervously in the air. The second Energy called upon him, he sucked in a deep breath… "What is twelve times thirteen minus one plus three?"

Everyone stared at him. Finally, Ice sighed before simply stating, "One hundred and fifty-eight. Does anyone else have any questions before we attack Earth?"

An indignant 'hey' came from Earth has he squawked at what Ice had bluntly suggested. Cole chuckled softly to himself even has Nya raised her hand. Water quickly called upon her.

Smiling, Nya leaned forward, eager for her answer. "Do Jay and I ever get together?"

A cry of 'what' escaped Kai while Jay dropped his mouth open in shock. Water blinked slowly, annoyance quickly crossing her face. "I don't know. We cannot see the future. Next question!"

Cole sighed. Why didn't anyone just ask the most important questions? Kai raised his hand and immediately began talking not waiting for his turn. "According to the news Lou Brookstone has been spending a lot of time with this lady with a set of triplets, do you think that they'll get married soon?"

Before any of the spiritia could answer, Cole leapt down Kai's throat. "Dude! That's _my_ dad you're talking about! And he's just helping Mrs. Jones out cause her husband died recently and our families are friends! I don't think I can handle it if they married!"

All mouths dropped open. Cole was about to ask what was wrong, when Jay spoke up suddenly. "Whoa…your old man is world famous! That… is… so… awesome! Do you have servants to do your bidding? I bet you live in a mansion! And…"

Cole quickly clapped a hand over Jay's mouth, muffling the noise. "No. To all of the above. I live in a modest suburban house. I have chores and no servants, thankfully. Now. Stop rambling so that the next person can ask their question."

Jay mumbled his apologies, before sulking in his chair. Zane timidly raise his hand, much to everyone's relief. There was no way that he would ask an awkward question, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. "Do you know what Mother looks like? Father won't show me any of her pictures."

Ice promptly banged his head. "Earth! I blame you for this! Come on! Doesn't anyone have any questions that we actually know the answers to!?"

Cole sighed as he realized that the one question he had his entire life might as well be asked. Even if the chances of these Spiritia knowing the answer was extremely slim. "Why do we have the Test every year?"

Gasps escaped his friends over his bluntness; no one _EVER_ questioned the Test! Earth and the rest of the spiritia cheered loudly at that question. "Finally a question we know the answer to! Long ago when the Guardians were just starting to intermingle with the Elemental Masters, it was realized that having all of their kids attend the school was pointless since the powers would sometimes skip a generation. So, the original Test was created to locate those with powers. Unfortunately, over the years it was blown out of proportions. Now you have that mess every year. Any other questions?"

Cole felt his mouth drop open upon hearing that. Apparently the Test was supposed to find the Gifted and send them to Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted for training, not what boarding school would be the best for them. Kai cleared his throat loudly, worry dancing in his eyes. "Can you explain why we found the pendants and could read the hieroglyphics?"

Ice frowned at that. "There was a prophesy long ago that the Overlord would return…"

Lloyd cut in right then. "Wait…what's the Overlord?"

Ice glared at the young boy. "One question at a time. As I was saying. According to the prophesy he would return and only the descendants of the guardians can stop him. However, at the time none of the children of the Guardians could handle our power. So, our pendants needed to be put away so as not to burn out the descendants. The prophesy mentioned that only the six descendants strong enough to hold our power can read the Guardians native tongue. Thus why we decided that when we would hide our pendants we would leave riddles leading to the next one…and eventually lead you to us. Now about your question about the Overlord, we will explain that later. Right now you need to know that the villains that the elemental masters and the past Gifted defeated coming back is a sign that he is returning. Now. Who is ready for some training?"

Silence fell as they friends absorbed the information they had just had dumped on them. Nya frowned, before looking back up. "Can we think about this please?"

"Of course. Go ahead and pick out a room to rest in. You all deserve to rest." Ice gestured for them to leave.

The minute Cole and his friends were out of the room, Fire jumped down his throat. "Why did you give them the option!? If they don't accept their duty as the next Guardians, then all of Ninjago is doomed!"

Ice drily looked at his fiery brother. "Because… if we don't give them the choice they will feel forced and rebel against us. And if they're strong enough to hold our power, then they are strong enough to destroy Ninjago just by sneezing. That is why the first of the Guardians placed us inside of the pendants instead of having us pass down genetically like the Elemental Masters, forming the Gifted. Once they realize that we _ARE_ their powers, they will listen to use."

Energy sighed, worry creasing his brow. "I hope so. I miss being with a Guardian."

Nods of agreement rippled through the group as they glanced at the glass orb that allowed them to follow their new hosts outside of the ship.

~With the Friends, the newly updated lounge room~

Kai was pacing, a frown on his face, muttering to himself. Cole picked up the controller for the game system that they had set up, noting that Jay was grabbing another one. Nya was biting her bottom lip; clearly thinking about the strange offer they were just given. Zane was quietly stroking his new pet falcon, watching the others with a distant look. Lloyd was staring at his feet, his brow knitted together in confusion.

"Would it be such a bad thing if we just left? I mean…I'm _ten_! I can't save all of Ninjago from some guy I've never heard of before!" Lloyd questioned, pointing out the young age he was at.

Cole quickly realized that his youngest friend had a point. They were all minors. They had school, family, even _curfews_ that they would have to work around. Sitting his controller down, he folded his arms. "That's it huh? We just go back and let everyone know we're ok."

Everyone nodded all around. Standing up, they left the room. They left the ship to be more precise, walking out to a small opening that was letting sunlight into the cavern.

 **A/N: Done! What? You actually thought I was going to let them jump at the chance to save all of Ninjago? Oh, and the spiritia isn't their ancestors! They're their powers personified! Yes, I knew this the whole time…well, since after you all meet them the first time. Oh well.**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	13. Chapter 12: Cool Birds and help!

**A/N: Hello! Hmm, probably should get the friends back onboard their ship… their flying ship that Jay wanted so badly. Anyways. Enjoy the story!**

 **Oh! Wow…lots of questions from Bookeeper2004 (Guest) let's see here. No, I don't think Earth is one of the sixteen realms. Sorry, only the friends have personified powers. I have no idea about that actually…good question. Same thing with your last one. Does that answer your questions?**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! Chayton is just Falcon renamed, I don't own him!**

Chapter Twelve: Let's change our minds here…

Cole lead the way as they slowly but carefully made their way down the mountainside. Lloyd slide past him having fallen down somewhere above him. Bending down, Cole grabbed the kid, stopping him from sliding even farther down. Lloyd nodded his thanks as he scrambled back to his feet, Cole steadying him even as the others caught up with them. Kai crouched down, a frown crossing his face.

"Hey Cole. Do serpentine usually climb up mountains…particularly if the said mountain has a road that they could use instead of the backside that is rather difficult to climb?"

Cole snapped his head forward to look down and noticed what it was that Kai had noticed. Several serpentine, a good variety of the different tribes minus one, were climbing towards them. Panic seized his heart even as a hoot filled his ear. Reaching up, he pulled a now wide awake Manu out of his hair. The other birds landed on their respective owners' shoulders, feathers bristling. It wasn't until Cole noticed the other birds' aggression that he noticed that Manu was bristling as well.

Glancing back down at the serpentine, Cole's heart nearly stopped upon seeing that they were even closer than before. Releasing Manu, Cole expected the owl to fly off, not to sit down on the ground in front of him, hooting as if he were excited. "No…Manu. You need to leave. Go on. Shoo." Cole made a shooing motion with his hands, trying to get the supposed to be nocturnal owl to move.

Manu merely hooted all the louder at that, staring down intently at the serpentine. Cole groaned as he wondered if he had a defective owl that didn't know what self-preservation means. "Manu! Leave now! Before you get hurt!"

Unfortunately, right then was when the serpentine noticed us and attacked. Ducking the friends noticed a small overhang and dove under it. It wasn't until they were safely out of the serpentines' reach that Cole realized that Manu wasn't with them. Actually, Chayton was the only bird still with them. Alarmed the friends stepped out of their hiding spots to scan the area for the other birds. What they ended up witnessing left their mouths dropping to the ground.

Manu was running in a circle around the serpentine so fast that he was just a blur…and a not so small dust storm had sprung up blinding the serpentine. Phoenix caught his wings on fire and dived at a group of serpentine that Manu had missed; leaving long scorched scratch marks on them. Teal had somehow multiplied herself, and was swarming around another smaller group of serpentine; pecking and scratching at them like no tomorrow. Arnett screeched so loudly, two groups of serpentine fell off the mountain, one of the groups being the group that Manu had blinded. Calli dove towards the ground, tucking her wings tightly against her body as she spun around in an even tighter circle, until she looked like a missile headed to the ground. Oh wait. There was a loud explosion as she connected to the ground, a good sized hole appearing where she had connected, her momentum driving her farther and farther into the mountain. Nya cried out in alarm, not expecting Calli to do something like that.

Zane cleared his throat loudly, amazement filling his eyes even as he looked towards Chayton. "Maybe we made a mistake with our choice. We best go back and talk with the spiritia about what we just witnessed." As he spoke the last of the serpentine fell into the hole that Calli had created.

Cole nodded in agreement, wondering what other secrets they had in store for him and his friends. Turning around, they headed back to the hidden pirate ship. Calli swooped back into the air, gliding after Nya.

~Back in the ship Ten minutes later~

"We have decided that we will be these Guardians that you spoke so highly of just cause birds shouldn't be able to do any of that!" Jay announced as he bounced back into the library, Teal perched on his shoulder while the others followed him in; their birds perched on their respective shoulders. Except for Manu, he was back asleep on Cole's head.

Cole rolled his eyes alongside Kai, before suddenly realizing that the spiritia didn't know what happened. "Umm, we sort of, uh…"

Earth quirked his eyebrow up, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Left without saying good bye? You also were attacked but most of your birds attacked your attackers. The only one that didn't would be Chayton, which truthfully makes sense seeing as all he can do is make it so that Zane can see through his eyes."

Zane gasped at that, glancing back at the calm falcon on his shoulder. Cole frowned, puzzled by how Earth knew all of that. Jay and Kai were openly astounded by this. Nya folded her arms, unease crossing her face. "How do you know all that about what happened?"

Water lifted a finger, pointing to the glass orb in the middle of the room. "For some reason, that allows us to watch your progress. We've been watching you since you were all a little child."

Cole wondered if he was the only one that could the crickets chirping. Ice coughed, clearly feeling the awkwardness of the moment. "It is getting late; we should discuss how we are going to divide up the chores, as well what the training schedule should look like. Unfortunately, we don't have that much time to get you fully trained."

Groans escaped everyone present at that announcement. There goes any free time for the next who knows how long.

~At a random news station~

"Good evening Ninjago! Welcome back to your favorite news station; _Good Days to Come_! This is your host, Billy News! Today, we have with us Lou Brookstone and his friend, Jo Anna Jones." Billy News grinned at the camera until he mentioned that Lou and Mrs. Jones were with him. Then a frown took over his face as he remembered why they were here. "What would you like to say to your son's captors?"

Lou sucked in a deep breath, not really sure why he had agreed to do this. "Just that, please, release my little boy and his friends and return them home. Soon." He glanced over at Mrs. Jones as if to double check that she agreed with him. Smiling, Mrs. Jones reached over and squeezed his hand tightly in her own hand.

Billy News turned to look at the camera again, a huge smile on his face. "There you have it folks. Lou Brookstone speaking up against his own kid's kidnappers, wherever they be."

~Warehouse that Cole and others had been held in~

Scales growled as he glared at the empty warehouse. The empty warehouse that was supposed to have six prisoners in it. The shredded rope on the ground was all that was needed to make them realize that at least four of them had four of the pendants. Tail twitching with annoyance, he slithered away, heading back inside where the others were at watching the news.

"I can't believe that we had a rich dude's kid and didn't even know it!" Kruncha the skeleton whined as he stared at the screen.

Scales shook his head, before turning to look at the soldiers that had been sent to locate the escaped prisoners. "Well? Did you find them?"

One of the soldiers shifted nervously, eyes darting everywhere as if he were looking for a way out of the room. "All six of them of the pendants. We were stopped by five of the Guardian Birds, and the sixth was on one of their shoulders."

Scales growled at that, quickly slithering towards Pythor to discuss what this meant for them.

~Later that Evening, about a hundred clicks away from the Monastery~

Nya and Lloyd looked at each other in alarm, before turning round eyes back to the equally terrified Water and Energy. Nya lifted a finger and pointed to the vehicle the others were in that was called the Ultra Sonic Raider, a powerful weapon on wheels that only the four fourteen year olds could control. "Are you sure we can't control it?"

Water flinched as the boys missed the target…again. "Unfortunately. Maybe you won't have to deal with the Great Devourer at all." Uncertainty filler her voice as she watched them back up into a ditch.

Lloyd lifted his hand up and slapped his face. "That's it. All of Ninjago is doomed. You guys really shouldn't place so much trust in a group of teens and one preteen."

Energy frowned as he looked to the small child that he was connected to. "You do know we're your powers, right? We don't have a choice but to trust you. Now then. How about we get you two into your mechs so that you can help the others get out of that ditch."

Lloyd and Nya rolled their eyes as they realized Energy was right. The others were stuck.

 **A/N: Done! Um, yeah. I think Ninjago is in trouble if they let those six save it. Oh! While I was working on it, someone expressed some confusion about whether or not Lloyd is Gifted. He is Gifted; he used his powers alongside the others when the Skeletons attacked them at the School's Ice Rink. However, he is not a freshman yet, so they can't train him just yet. Give it four years, and then he'll be a student and learning how to control his power. Only it needs to be done now, so his spiritia…also known as his powers, is giving him one on one training.**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	14. Chapter 13: Ninjago is doomed

**A/N: Hello! Ok, I'm awake so I probably should work on this. Umm, not entirely sure what's going to happen here. Beyond training and banging our heads. Oh well.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! The song doesn't have lyrics, cause I can't think of any good ones…**

Chapter Thirteen: We're trusting our lives to _THEM_!?

~Ninjago City Park~

Lou shook his head as he watched the protestors walk through the city. All of them were carrying signs that protested about the Serpentine and demanding that the police double their efforts to find the missing students. Lou glanced down at the sign he had, though he was not waving it around while shouting and walking about the place. Mrs. Jones reached over and squeezed his hand, a warm smile on her face, though worry danced in her eyes. "They really want the parents of those taken to speak. There are a couple of couples talking over by the stage. And I see two of their teachers talking about something to someone else… perchance you should go talk to his teachers? They are the same ones that did the Test."

Lou sighed as he looked over to where Misako and Dr. Julian were discussing something with Garmadon, while occasionally glancing back over at the younger couple. Squaring his shoulders, Lou walked over to where they stood. Clearing his throat, he drew their attention. "Excuse me…but my son, Cole, is one of the missing students. And well, he goes to your school…and um." Lou faltered as he noticed that the other couple had walked over to them and were watching him curiously.

Misako smiled, anxiety dancing in her eyes as she placed her hand on her husband's shoulder. "Cole certainly is a wonderful student. I'm taking it you asked to give a speech as well?"

Lou frowned, confused about what she meant by that. "What do you mean?"

"The ten year old that was taken with them is our son." Garmadon explained as he pulled Misako closer to him.

"Oh! Umm, what about you? Or are you just supporting your coworker?" Lou glanced over to Dr. Julian.

"My only child is one of our students that was taken. I am not sure how good I will be at speaking in front of an audience though. Zane is all I have of my dear wife… while I love him dearly; I have never been real good with expressing myself." Dr. Julian fretted, worry creasing his brow.

The man in the younger couple suddenly clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do fine Dr. Julian. It's Garmadon we have to watch out for." As he spoke, he glanced back at Garmadon.

Garmadon playfully growled as he swatted at the man. "If it ain't my worst student ever, Ray Smith. Your kids have Maya's brains."

Maya laughed, a smile crossing her face. "You also probably noticed that Kai takes after his father a bit as well."

"Maya." Misako moved to hug the younger girl.

Maya beamed as she hugged her back. "I would have thought that I would reunite with my favorite teacher at a school reunion and not because my babies were kidnapped along with your kid."

Garmadon immediately protested. "What am I!? Chopped liver!?"

Maya shook her head. "You are the favorite older brother of the headmaster's."

Garmadon promptly grumbled that he was the only brother that the old sensei had. Lou blinked rapidly before it accord to him that the younger couple were speaking as if they both had attended the mystery school, and apparently two of the missing students were their children.

~Back at the _Bounty_ , in the middle of nowhere~

"Kai! Slow down!" Fire yelled over the wind as he tried and a failed at keeping up with the Guardian of Fire. Maybe showing him his Blade Cycle was a bad idea…

There was a low rumbling sound as Jay's jet dipped down lower, Lightning easily keeping up with him. Cole's new Tread Assault vehicle crunched over the rough terrain as he drove along, Earth sitting on top of the roof. Zane was testing out his Snow Mobile, Ice right behind him.

Nya had her Mech out and was keeping pace with the others, Water zipping around her excitedly. Lloyd was up ahead of everyone on top of his Golden Cycle. Energy was nowhere in sight, though it was presumed that he was with Lloyd. "I'm gonna win!"

Fire groaned, before hollering back to the youngest Guardian. "It's not a race!"

Kai smirked as he revved up his ride. "Really? Could have fooled me. Now if you will please excuse me, I have a kid to beat." With that Kai shot off again.

Fire slapped his face before turning to check on how the other spiritia were dealing with their lessons. Just in time for all of the Guardians to take off as quickly as they could after the two. Joyful whooping escaped them as they attempted and succeeded at doing stunts. The rest of the spiritia slipped away and joined him staring after them. Earth suddenly spoke up, exasperation flooding his voice as he turned around to leave. "That's it. We're doomed. There is absolutely no way that those six can save all of Ninjago from the Overlord."

….

Lloyd smiled as he hummed to himself, all the while filling his plate up with a good variety of delicious foods. Lunch time had to be his favorite time of day…especially when it's Zane's turn to cook. Nya was sitting next to Jay, already wolfing down her food. Kai was pushing his dumplings around with his fork, while Zane was sipping at his cup of water. Cole was piling various pies and cakes onto his plate, humming some song Lloyd never heard of before…but it was good.

Kai looked up from his plate, handing a bite of his dumplings to Phoenix. "Hey, Cole? What's that you're humming?"

Cole immediately stopped and turning bright red, hurried over to his seat. "Nothing special. Just this song I wrote when I was little. Jones never really liked it, didn't make any sense to him I guess. Honestly I don't know about it either." Cole looked down to his plate.

Zane looked up from his place, eyebrow quirked upwards. "I didn't know you wrote a song."

Cole picked at a piece of pie, turning even redder in the face. "Well…Dad was kinda hoping I'll follow his footsteps and I guess you could say I picked a thing or two up from him."

Nya twirled her fork, an almost innocent look on her face. "Kai plays guitar…maybe you can sing it for us?"

Kai choked upon hearing his sister admit his greatest secret. "Nya! No one is supposed to know about that!"

Ice, who was with the other spiritia watching them, turned to his companions. "We really are all doomed."

Groans escaped the others as they watched the Guardians wolf down their food. The second they were all done, they stood up and left to go to the game room. Kai muttering something about there being a guitar in the hallway closet, near the armory.

….

Earth wondered if he was the only one imagining it. Or if it was his imagination to begin with. Cole had located the notebook that he kept his song ideas in and had opened it to the page with the song that he had been humming. Kai tuned the guitar, before starting to strum it lightly. Zane had somehow found a flute and keyboard, while Lloyd had found a tambourine. Jay accepted the keyboard, settling down next to Nya, who was without an instrument. As Cole sang the lyrics, which everyone could read, Kai picked up the tempo; and one by one each of the friends with an instrument joined in. Nya after awhile began seeing along, her voice soft yet strong enough to rise above the music as she sang the song of hope.

Lightning bumped him into the arm, a smile dancing on his face. "Ok…Ninjago _might_ be doom with these six in charge of saving it…but you got to admit they're talented."

Earth merely nodded, before groaning in Cole finished the song, and instead of being responsible and suggesting they get back to training, turned the page over to another song he had written. They quickly began playing and singing it with all of their hearts. "Yep…we're still doom. If you need me, I real be in the hangar waiting for them to decide to get back to training." Earth turned and left the room, annoyance flashing across his eyes.

 **A/N: Done! Hmm, I think Ninjago has a problem… the six in charge of saving everyone is more interested in having fun. That's gonna be fun when they finally get out to the field.**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	15. Chapter 14: Zane goes first

**A/N: Hello! Umm…oh boy. Mind is a blank... ooh lets listen to Disney music!**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! I also don't own the song… Disney owns it technically. I just changed man to ninja. Disney also owns Mulan…which may or may not have inspired this chapter…**

Chapter Fourteen: I'll make a Ninja out of you…some day

"Ok! Listen up! It's time to learn how to defeat the Overlord!" Earth barked as he tossed a collection of staffs at the teens and preteen.

Fire quickly showed them how to properly hold the staff for combat. Copying him, the friends all somehow managed to knock each other of their feet. Groaning, Ice facepalmed as he watched everyone try to untangle themselves from each other.

"Oh boy. This might take awhile." Lightning commented as Jay finally managed to crawl out from underneath a startled Cole, who was trying to find his footing.

…

Water folded her arms confidently, staring intently at the sea stacks. "No way they can mess this up!"

Fire leaned forward, a frown on his face. "Wanna bet on it?" He muttered darkly.

Water glared at him, before turning just in time to see Kai freeze up on the middle sea stack. Unfortunately, he was in front of all the others. "I don't know how to swim! I don't even like water!"

"Can I just say that all of Ninjago is doomed if we let them save it?" Energy muttered to himself as he watched as they one by one fell off of the sea stacks.

"No… they'll get better." Earth wasn't that sure if he was telling the truth.

…

"Ready! Aim! Fire!" Ice barked as he watched the new Guardians lift their arrows up and aimed at the tree he had painted four bulls-eyes on.

A minute later, a thousand arrows were resting anywhere but on the tree. Lloyd was sticking his tongue out as he tried to steady his first arrow, which he hadn't shot yet. Nya was growling as she aimed her fiftieth arrow at the target. Kai was just about ready to throw his bow. Zane was scratching his head in confusion, trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. Cole had somehow snapped his bow in half, while Jay somehow had loosed his arrow alongside himself.

"Jay! How did you…umm… yeah that." Lightning slapped his face as he stared at the young teen, who was sprawled next to his arrow near a large boulder nowhere near the tree.

"Umm, good question?" Jay blinked rapidly, trying his best not to see stars.

Ice buried his head into his hands. "Ok… next lesson! Earth!"

…

Earth folded his arms, a hundred percent proud of himself. "No way they can find a way to mess up a run in the mountains!"

"Earth? You were saying?" Water pointed to the friends, all six of whom had collapsed from exhaustion.

"Oh come on! Lightning, your turn!" Earth wailed loudly, tears threatening to escape.

…

Lightning grinned as he bounced a pebble in his hand. "Ok…it's easy. We throw pebbles at you. You use your staffs to block them. All the while balancing buckets of water on your head; just cause I feel like it! Ready, set, go!" With no warning, he flung his pebble hard.

Three minutes later, Nya was cautiously lifting her bucket of her head. Jay slipped as he tried to move, only to step into a puddle from the spilt water.

"Hey…Energy? It's your turn." Lightning rubbed his forehead.

"I think that this isn't going to work. We need a new plan." Earth groaned has he threw a bunch of papers that he didn't have a minute ago into the air.

"Hey…it's my turn to train them!" Energy protested loudly.

…

Energy wondered if he was the only one that wished he hadn't insisted upon going through his lesson. Everything looked like it was going great…until Cole fell from halfway up the pole. That was when Energy began panicking. He only had the one pole, and they were climbing it one at a time. And Cole was the first one to climb it. A minute later, Nya thudded to the ground. After her, Kai fell from not that high honestly. Jay slid down, just barely getting higher than Kai. Zane went next, barely getting off the ground before he fell off. That just left Lloyd. Lloyd scrambled for several minutes, but he couldn't get a hold of the pole.

Sighing, Energy floated over to the young child. "That's enough for today. Go rest. We will begin again tomorrow."

…

Cole tossed and turned in his bed, his mind replaying all of that day's disastrous training. Sighing, he swung his legs down to the floor. Standing up, he crept out of the room, his mind dwelling on the run through the mountains. He could have done better than what he did…he just needed practice.

…

Zane paced around his room, sleep evading him. Running his fingers through his hair, he glanced at his alarm clock. A scowl crossed his face upon seeing that it was only eleven thirty at night. Sitting down on his bed, he considered that day's events carefully. Sighing, he stood back up and left the room. He could always practice firing the arrows.

…

Lloyd pulled his covers over his head, before he threw them back off. Sitting up, he placed his chin into the palm of his hand. He couldn't sleep. Not when he knew that he had failed so, so bad that day. A frown crossed his face as he recalled how he was the worst one at climbing that pole. Energy had explained it to them…the Guardians in the past operated like ninja. They should be able to climb that pole like a piece of cake! Shaking his head, Lloyd tiptoed out of his room, figuring that a little extra practice wouldn't hurt him.

…

Kai didn't know what happened. All he knew was that an alarm had gone off suddenly. Scrambling, he tumbled out of his bed and charged out of his room towards the bridge. A yelp escaped him as he crashed into his sister. Jay nervously appeared behind him, while Zane, Cole, and Lloyd sprinted up to the room already dressed.

"What's going on!?" Lloyd demanded as he finally fought his way through the door.

Zane nodded in agreement. "It's only three in the morning. Is something wrong with the systems?"

Lightning shook his head, distress flooding him. "No… the village of Jamanakai is under attack. You need to go do your part and protect the citizens."

"Oh…OH!" Alarm shot through everyone has they finally registered what he had just said.

…

Zane crouched down behind a dumpster, Jay on his left and Nya on his right. Across from them, Kai crouched behind another dumpster, with Lloyd and Cole. It was raining lightly, so their birds were staying behind, while the spiritia hovered over them. Zane flinched as a constrictai flung a vendor stall into the alleyway near them.

"Ok…we need a plan that is not let's rush into things and get ourselves almost killed." Cole hissed as he pulled out his pendant and rubbed it nervously.

Lloyd suddenly bolted upright, pulling his own pendant out. "Our pendants…they're magical. Maybe we can use them to fight off these constrictai!"

Energy quickly shook his head at that. "No. You're not ready to use its power!"

Unfortunately, that was when another constrictai grabbed and flung the dumpster Kai was behind away. "Ooh, lookie what we have here. Sssscalessss been looking for you three." He moved to seize Kai and Lloyd, picking them up by the scruffs of their necks. He glared menacingly at Cole, daring him to attack him.

Zane leapt out of his hiding spot, weakly punching him in the back. "Let my friends go!"

"You know… Sssscalesss isss looking for you too." He flung the two boys back down to the ground.

"I don't care! All I care is that you release my friends!" Zane cried out, his pendant started glowing, floating up where everyone could see it. "To me everything is as clear as ice!" Ice gasped as he noticed that his edges were also glowing. "I will never let anyone harm my friends!" With that said, Ice suddenly zipped forward, combining into his pendant. A white glow surged forth, blinding everyone. When the light died down, standing right there was a white clad ninja, shruikens twirling in his hands. "For I am the Guardian of Ice! You just made a big mistake…" The now at full strength Guardian flung his shruikens, freezing the constrictai in place.

"Whoa…" Zane's friends slowly stood up to stare at him. Lloyd snapped his head up to look at him. "How did you do that!?"

"I…I…I don't know!" Zane promptly began freaking out.

Earth hummed as he looked at him thoughtfully. "You must have said your transformation sequence. Curious really seeing has we don't know what your transformation sequence is either…for that matter, we don't know how it works. Just that we get sucked into our respective pendants when you say it."

Zane glanced back, noticing more serpentine rushing forward to join their now down companion. "We have to, uh hum, blow this popsicle stand so to speak. If you don't mind the pun there."

Laughter escaped his friends as they darted off to get out of his way. Zane closed his eyes, concentrating on the essence that made him, him. A brilliant white glow covered him as he snapped his eyes open, revealing that they were glowing a brighter blue than normal. Lifting his hand up, he cried out with loud voice. "Cutting Ice Blizzard!" Suddenly, a flurry of snow and ice shot out of his hands, covering the entire mountainside village in several inches of snow and ice.

Collapsing to the ground, Zane gasped for breath. His pendant, which had morphed into a golden medal in the middle of his chest, flashed brightly, before going back to normal. Ice grimaced as he spun out of the pendant, turning Zane's ninja gi back into his jeans and white sweater.

Earth glanced back at the others, before turning to face the collapsed Zane and shocked Ice. "Let's head home. They need to rest."

Ice slowly nodded in agreement, still trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

 **A/N: Done! Let's see here… Zane basically found his true potential. I guess…. Not entirely sure what just happened. As you can tell, I was listening to** _ **I'll make a man out of you**_ **while typing this up.**

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 **SkyTalon**


	16. Chapter 15: Jay saves Zane

**A/N: Hello! Time for some fun as the ninja continue ditching school. Today there shall be some interesting things happening…like Jay follows Zane.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Fifteen: Hey look! We have Ninja!

Zane lead the way through the deep forest, his feet lightly landing on a branch as he leapt from tree branch to tree branch. The others were right behind him, keeping pace easily. He was wearing a light gray sweat pants and a white sweater with light gray stripes. Cole was wearing dark, basically black sweatpants and a black sweater. Jay was wearing bright blue jogging pants and a matching blue sweater. Kai was wearing a red sweater and red jogging pants. Nya wore a maroon sweater with blue stripes and a matching pair of sweatpants. Lloyd brought up the rear with vividly green sweatpants and a green sweater with a gold dragon on it.

Zane halted suddenly, lifting a hand up to signal the others to halt. His breath was gentle and calm, despite the way he had pushed himself to get _here_ within a timely manner. Crouching down, he scanned the encampment of Stone Warriors down below. His fingers twitch as a he grasped the empty silvery white hilt in his right hand. Ice's warning from just mere hours ago, rang through his head. _A large encampment of Stone Warriors has been spotted. Several civilians have been taken captive. I am afraid due to the fact they don't know what they're going against, your teachers and schoolmates, all of whom have been labeled as heroes, are waiting to gather more information. We do not have time to wait._

Jay nudged Zane suddenly, snapping him back to the present. Nodding his head in confirmation, Zane turned his head to the side to look at Ice. "Everything is as clear as ice." Zane whispered softly, activating his transformation to the Ice Guardian.

Leaping down, Zane lightly landed on all fours near the camp. Moving stealthily, he inched his way over to the large tent that the civilians were being held in. He shifted slightly, eyeing the guard while running a thumb over the silvery white hilt. Once it became clear that the guard wasn't moving anytime soon, a sigh escaped Zane as he pressed down on an almost invisible button on the hilt. Immediately, a matching blade that appeared to be almost glowing shot out of the hilt. Without batting an eye, he poked the Stone Warrior in the side. Within seconds, the Stone Warrior was coated in ice. Removing his thumb off the button, he lazily watched the blade slip back into the hilt. Stepping lightly, he slipped into the tent.

Several, frightened eyes snapped up to look at him. Upon realizing that it was a teenage boy dressed like a white clad ninja, they crinkled their noses in confusion. Zane lifted his empty hand up and gestured for them to follow him. "We must get going…before the other Stone Warriors realize the guard has been mysteriously frozen."

"What do you mean by frozen? We are close to an inactive volcano…and everyone knows it is unnecessary warm in these parts." A lady pointed out, puzzled by what he meant by that.

Zane sighed as he clipped the hilt to his belt, freeing his hands up. "I can freeze anything I touch. Now, please, we have to get goin…" Zane never finished his sentence as low, and loud, guttural sounds interrupted him. Swallowing hard, he turned around to find himself facing several very angry Stone Warriors. "Bother… I am afraid that this just won't d…." His mouth dropped open in shock as electricity suddenly danced across the Stone Warriors.

The now electrified Stone Warriors fell down to reveal a blue clad ninja standing behind them, his silvery blue Elemental Blade slipping into his silvery blue hilt. "Umm…hi… Ice? Whoa. Not sure what just happened. I just realized that they were going to surround you and had to do something! I mean…" Jay continued rambling on, not really paying attention to the way the civilians were gawking at him.

Zane cleared his through, humor dancing in his eyes. "Ah yes. This would be my brother; Lightning… our parents were very creative in our names obviously…"

Zane strolled out of the tent, slapping Jay on the back of the head. Jay blinked, before realizing he was talking too much and rushed off to follow Zane out of the tent, the civilians following close behind them. Unfortunately, there were several more Stone Warriors standing in their way, weapons raised. Zane quickly flipped out his Elemental Blade, activating it. "Lightning! Go and escort the civilians out of here!"

Jay nodded a confirmation, before rushing off into the opposite direction of Zane. "Come on! This way! Hurry! Other words that people with authority bark out in emergencies!"

The civilians looked worried about that last comment, though Zane chuckled at that. Turning to face the Stone Warriors, he raised his Blade up and slammed it down into the ground. Ice immediately shot forth, freezing the Stone Warriors feet to the ground. A minute later, sweat slipped down his neck as they broke free casually, as if he hadn't frozen them at all. Taking an involuntary step back, Zane glanced around trying to see something, anything really, that he could use to slow them down.

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Right after he murders Jay. "I told you to leave with the civilians!" Zane looked back to glare at his fellow ninja, worry dancing in his eyes.

Jay shrugged nonchalantly, as if he didn't get what the big deal was. "You need help…. Watch out!" The last part escaped him just as a Stone Warrior knocked Zane to the ground. "You really shouldn't have done that!" Jay began glowing bright blue, lightning dancing across his arms. "Random Surprise Lightning Strike!" Jay then disappeared…and reappeared right behind the Stone Warriors, lightning shooting everywhere has he knocked them down.

Zane leapt up and quickly called on his most powerful move. "Cutting Ice Blizzard!"

….

Sensei Wu blinked, puzzled about what state the camp was in. The strange stone creatures were either frozen in six and a half inches of ice…or they were jittery from what looked like a lightning storm. Shaking his head, he turned to face the two students he had brought with him. "Looks like either a freak storm hit and took care of the problem or something…Dareth, are you even listening to me?"

Dareth blinked, holding a small furry squirrel in his hand. "Sorry…just according to Nutsy here, two teenagers dressed as ninja showed up and completely wiped out the competition. The one wearing the white gi froze the things, while the one wearing the blue gi shocked the others with a great burst of electricity. They got all of the civilians out of here before they did that. Apparently after they used so much of their power, their outfits changed into normal outfits that you would expect someone out on a midmorning run to wear."

"Hmmm. I need to meditate on this."

….

Cole chuckled as someone started a food fight. He wasn't sure who did it this time. All he knew was that Zane come out wearing a bright, flowery pink apron…and next thing he knew, everyone was making jabs at his own cooking and someone had flung a shrimp at Zane. Who responded as any mature fourteen year old does, he threw the gravy dish in the general direction that the shrimp had come from. Screeches and loud hooting, honking…and you get the idea escaped the birds as they flapped their wings quickly as they flew around the dining table. Cole ducked as another dish nearly hit him in the face, quickly seizing another bit of ammo.

Earth glanced over at Ice and Lightning. "We appear to have two ninjas already… and the others have really improved in these past couple of days."

"Indeed. Amazing what can happen with… um hmm, field experience. I wasn't expecting us to train them this way." Ice spoke calmly, though worry creased his brow.

Lightning shrugged, amusement dancing in his eyes. "We should have seen it coming though. They did better on the field than they did in class back with the school."

Water rolled her eyes, a smile tugging on her face. "Boys… shouldn't we be breaking this food fight up? Or our way just gonna ignore it like the last two food fights?"

All five of her fellow spiritia tensed, uncertainty dancing in their eyes. "Umm, yes?"

Water slapped her face, noting the hesitance in their voices.

 **A/N: Done! Let's see here…started this around Friday…and now its Monday. Sorry. Enjoy!**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	17. Chapter 16: A singing Competition

**A/N: Hello! Hmm, I haven't worked on this story for two reasons; I have two things that I want to happen in this chapter. After talking to Stormy, I have come to a conclusion. I will try and write both events into this chapter. If I don't succeed, then the event that doesn't get included will be in the next chapter…maybe. We'll see.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! Dr. Julian's own first name is of my invention… Also, Chayton is Falcon! I do not own him! Disney owns the song.**

Chapter Sixteen: How to win a singing contest...

~With Lou~

Lou frowned as he stared at the radio setup in the park. Most of the families of the missing students were there; apparently the Garmadons and Dr. Julian couldn't make it since they all have classes to teach. Though he was a bit concerned about what they meant when they mentioned something about needing to improve an obstacle course so that it was even more dangerous. Shaking his head, he walked over to where the famous DJ Max was testing out the microphones.

DJ Max looked up, and immediately smiled. "Nice of you to come, man. This singing contest will be great for you, man." Turning to face the set up, he straightened out the microphones that were being used. "I mean, man, losing your kid must be so hard. Anyways, man, it's pretty simple. Each person that calls in must either donate money to the cause of finding your kid, man, or they can sing, man. Of course we might get some people that do both. Sing and donate. Doesn't really matter. The winner gets three hundred bucks, man. Not much, but should get some folks interested, man."

Lou brushed his jacket sleeve, his frown deepening. "Do you always have to say man in every sentence?"

DJ Max frowned, looking up at him. "I don't know what you mean by that, man."

Lou's eye twitched as he went to sit down next to the Walkers and Smiths. Ray Smith nodded his head in greeting his arm draped around his wife's shoulders. Edna appeared to be excited while Ed seemed unaware of what was happening.

….

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! This is DJ Max here along with Lou Brookstone, Ed and Edna Walker, and of course Ray and Maya Smith. We had asked Garmadon and Misako Garmadon to join us, along with Dr. Christopher Julian. Unfortunately, all three of them work at the mystery school and couldn't get today off. Which is a bummer man." DJ Max smiled warmly at his microphone, as if everyone at home could see it as well as those in the park. Reaching over, he flipped a switch, a huge grin crossing his face. "Why! Look here, man! We already have a caller, man. Now then, will you be donating or singing, man? Or maybe even both, man?"

" _I would like to donate a hundred dollars to the cause. Thanks for what you're doing for these folks."_

DJ Max grinned as he flipped the switch back to its original position. "Now that's what I'm talking about, man! Let's keep things flowing! Between calls, I have a list of questions for my guests, man! So keep calling and don't worry about silence, man! There is never a silent moment with DJ Max, man."

Lou groaned as he buried his head into his hands, silently begging the phone to never stop ringing.

…

Three hours…and the radio show didn't have any signs of slowing down. Lou smiled, glad that he hadn't had to answer any questions yet. DJ Max flipped another switch, answering it on the automatic. "You're on with DJ Max, man! What do you say, man? Donate or sing!"

A frown crossed his face as an unfamiliar voice slipped out, and yet he felt as if he should know it. _"Yeah…my…brother and his girlfriend would like to sing for the competition. Do you have any duets?"_

"That we do! Here is a wonderful song for your brother and his girlfriend to sing, man!" DJ Max picked out a song… one that Lou noticed and immediately groaned.

~Meanwhile on the other side of the phone call~

Cole ducked his head as Jay swatted him. "What do you mean by _girlfriend_?! We haven't even been on an official date yet!"

Cole sniggered as he noticed that the voice modifier that Jay was wearing must have been activated since his voice sounded funny. Nya glanced over at them, annoyance flashing in her eyes as she readjusted her voice modifier. "No fighting! The spiritia are sleeping and we are soo gonna get in trouble if they find out what we're doing."

The three teens immediately sobered up, Cole and Jay glancing nervously at the door that lead out into the hallway. Kai burst out laughing at the sight of their faces, nearly knocking an extremely nervous Lloyd over. Zane shook his head, his fingers running through Chayton's feathers.

"Wait! We have to sing _that_ song! Twinkle Toes… you will be lucky if you survive the night!" Nya suddenly exploded staring at the computer linked up to the phone. Horror was on her face, much to Cole's confusion…until he read which song it was.

Cole quickly blocked the phone so that no one could hear them as he turned to face the others. "Out of all of the songs that he could have picked…he had to pick the love song Dad wrote for Mom!"

Jay nervously fidgeted with his voice modifier, worry creasing his brow. "This is gonna be fun…"

Cole slowly removed his hand, even as DJ Max's voice came from the radio website. " _Well then! We need to know you're names here, man."_

Cole frowned, suddenly worried about what they were going to use for their names. He shouldn't have worried with Jay. "My name's Mouth of Lightning…Zaptrap for short. And my singing partner is Samurai X…uh I guess you could call her Sam for short… is that alright with you?" Jay quickly threw his hands into the air. "Please don't kill me!"

Nya glared at him, her fingers curling into a deadly fist. "Zaptrap… I won't kill you. I'll have my _brother_ do that for me."

Jay gulped loudly, before realizing that the music was already starting. "I can see what's happening..."

Nya cut in her voice blending perfectly with his. "What?"

"…And they don't have a clue…" Jay continued singing.

"…Who?"

"…They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line. Our quad's down to three."

"..Oh."

"The sweet caress of twilight. There's magic everywhere. And with all this romantic atmosphere… Disaster's in the air." Nya took over, her voice rising musically into the air.

Jay swallowed hard, before joining her in the chorus. "Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings? The world for once in perfect harmony, With all its living things."

Nya stopped singing, allowing Jay to continue. "So many things to tell her. But how to make her see? The truth about my past, impossible. She'd turn away from me."

Jay stopped now, allowing Nya to sing her part. "He's holding back, he's hiding. But what, I can't decide. Why won't he be the guy I know he is? The guy I see inside?"

Jay joined her again, their voices harmonizing perfectly together. "Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings? The world for once, in perfect harmony, with all its living things. Can you feel the love tonight? You needn't look too far. Stealing through the night's uncertainties, Love is where they are. And if he falls in love tonight, It can be assumed, His carefree days with us are history, In short, our pal is doomed."

~Back with Lou~

Lou blinked as he listened to the harmonious voices blending together. At the end of the song, tears slide down his cheek as he furiously wiped at his eyes. DJ Max leaned forward an amazed smile on his face. "Man, you two are amazing. Did you go to Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts, man?"

" _Umm…no?"_ A frown crossed Lou's face as he realized that the so called Zaptrap sounded uncertain about that. Just then a new voice suddenly spoke up in the background. _"Guys! Hurry it up! They're on the move! I repeat! They're on the move!"_

Ray suddenly bolted upright, his eyes widening in horror. "Kai?!"

" _You idiot! You're not wearing a voice modifier!" "Ow! Hey! I thought you were gonna kill Cole, not me!" "Leave me out of this Kai!"_ Lou's eyes widened in horror when Twinkle Toes joined the conversation, his voice suddenly going staticky before clearing up. Which would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that it was Cole's voice. Another voice spoke, panic edging it. _"Guys! Hang up_ _ **now**_ _! They're… right here. Uh…hi?"_

Shivers went down Lou's spine as a new, furious voice suddenly came over the line. _"What is going on here?! This doesn't look like cleaning to me! You! Step away from the phone! All of you get back to work! Am I understood!?" "Yes sir…" "Go now."_

Lou shuddered as the line suddenly went dead. His son…that was his son! Lou clenched his fist as he realized that it sounded as if he was being forced to clean his captors' hideout. "Get the police…they might be able to trace the call back to them."

~Back with our favorite ninja~

Cole grumbled under his breath as he carefully climbed down the side of the ship, somehow having the luck of having to clean the ship's underside. Normally this wouldn't be a problem…but since they were two hundred feet above the tallest building in all of Ninjago City; it was a bit on the annoying side. As he scraped the bird poop of the side, his comlink went off, Kai's voice whispering through to all of them.

" _Who all had fun with the whole singing competition?"_

" _Kai…you do realize that thanks to your idiotic decision that they will be trying to track us down?"_ Zane's voice calmly filled the air; he probably didn't have that much dusting to do.

" _Ok…ok. I get it…but if they try to pinpoint us…they're gonna run into the issue of the fact we keep moving and sometimes are higher up than the mountain tops."_

Cole shook his head, before moving his wrist to his mouth. "Did you guys see Earth's face when we called him sir? He looked like he was about to faint. Then Ice had to ruin the moment by lecturing us on how we have chores for a reason…and blah-blah blah."

"Glad to see what Ice said was so amusing. Now then I believe you missed a spot." Earth suddenly appeared next to Cole, calmly pointing to a large swath of bird poop over to the left of him.

"Thanks Earth…" Cole groaned as he reached to scrub the spot.

 **A/N: Done! Ok…. Only did one thing. I guess that means that Cole gets to transform the first time next chapter. Also I think Earth is mad at them…**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	18. Chapter 17: Cole helps save an officer

**A/N: Hello! *wipes sweat off forehead* Ok…no one told me that it would be this warm today. Ugh. I think I'm supposed to do something with Cole… oh yeah. He's supposed to transform this chapter. Hmm. That will be fun…if I knew what he's transformation sequence was… oops.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Seventeen: The Tracking of the Call…

 _Previously on The Test Sent Me Here?!..._

 _Lou blinked as he listened to the harmonious voices blending together. At the end of the song, tears slide down his cheek as he furiously wiped at his eyes. DJ Max leaned forward an amazed smile on his face. "Man, you two are amazing. Did you go to Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts, man?"_

 _"_ _Umm…no?"_ _A frown crossed Lou's face as he realized that the so called Zaptrap sounded uncertain about that. Just then a new voice suddenly spoke up in the background._ _"Guys! Hurry it up! They're on the move! I repeat! They're on the move!"_

 _Ray suddenly bolted upright, his eyes widening in horror. "Kai?!"_

 _"_ _You idiot! You're not wearing a voice modifier!" "Ow! Hey! I thought you were gonna kill Cole, not me!" "Leave me out of this Kai!"_ _Lou's eyes widened in horror when Twinkle Toes joined the conversation, his voice suddenly going staticky before clearing up. Which would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that it was Cole's voice. Another voice spoke, panic edging it._ _"Guys! Hang up_ _ **now**_ _! They're… right here. Uh…hi?"_

 _Shivers went down Lou's spine as a new, furious voice suddenly came over the line._ _"What is going on here?! This doesn't look like cleaning to me! You! Step away from the phone! All of you get back to work! Am I understood!?" "Yes sir…" "Go now."_

 _Lou shuddered as the line suddenly went dead. His son…that was his son! Lou clenched his fist as he realized that it sounded as if he was being forced to clean his captors' hideout. "Get the police…they might be able to trace the call back to them."_

Cole hummed an obscure song as he scrubbed at the filth underneath the ship. Only as the filth disappeared, a loud blaring alarm sounded, nearly deafening him. "Agh! Jay! Why did you make the alarm soo loud!" Cole grabbed the rope keeping him attached to the ship, and started climbing up rapidly, flipping over the railing to land in a low crouch. Breaking at a sprint he bolted towards the bridge, even as the ship tilted away, flying off.

~With Lou~

Lou frowned as he stared at the coordinates that popped up on the police officer's tracking device. "That can't be right…that's ten feet above the Borg Industries. Nothing's there."

Officer Nicholas ran his fingers through his hair, frustration blazing in his eyes. "Something's up. I'll call Mr. Borg and ask him if he's noticed anything off around his business."

Lou sighed, glancing over at the other parents. A dead end. Here they were hoping their kids had found a way to get their attention and it was a _dead end_.

Ray sighed, placing his chin in the palm of his hand. "Of course it's a dead end. Their captors are probably too smart to let something like that to give them away."

Officer Nicholas glanced back at the gathering of upset parents, worry filling him. "Excuse me...but it appears the things made from stone and the serpentine appear to have teamed up with each other. I'm needed on the front line. Sorry." He quickly moved to run to his cop car.

"Good luck." Lou called out to him, worry twisting inside of his stomach.

~Back with the Ninja~

Cole pulled out his elemental blade, glancing over at Jay and Zane, both of whom were already transformed. Nya, Kai, and Lloyd were standing right behind Cole, the four of them in position to watch the attempt to retrieve the stolen scrolls. Why the serpentine and stone warriors were interested in the ancient scrolls that were on display in the Museum just three hours ago, Cole had no idea. Moving quietly, Zane and Jay snuck into the encampment. Just as two stone warriors walked into the camp with an officer caught between them. Cole banged his head against the rock in front of him, barely splitting it open.

Zane turned to face the startled stone warrior, whipping his elemental blade up, flicking it to point it straight at them. "I recommend standing down and releasing the poor man. Lightning, brother? May I suggest you go find the stolen scrolls?"

Jay nodded in earnest, a wry smile crossing his face, not that anyone could see it under his hood. "On it Ice. See ya guys later! If there's anyone left after Ice is done with you… I probably should stop talking now." Jay sprinted away, trading his elemental blade in for a pair of golden nunchucks.

Cole followed the battle with his eyes, somehow simultaneously keeping track of both of his friends. Unfortunately, that was probably why when Zane suddenly yelled ambush, Cole was taken by surprise. Cole clenched his fists, worry filling him. Standing up, he moved to join the battle.

Lloyd immediately seized his arm, alarm flashing across his face. "Cole. Wait. The others have it covered I'm sure."

Cole stubbornly pulled his arm back, anger flaring in his eyes. "Look. I don't care what happens out there to me. All that matters is that those are _my_ friends! And I refuse by the earth I am standing on to let anything happen to them!" Cole felt power surging through him suddenly, a bright light blinding him. When the light faded away, he was wearing a black ninja gi. Smiling to himself, he leapt forward and knocked three of the stone warriors that were trying to beat up Zane down.

"Nice try! No one hurts my brothers while I'm around!" Cole growled as he took a defensive position back to back with Zane.

A serpentine that had joined the fight; tilted his head in puzzlement. "If your name isss Ice…and the other Lightning…then what isss your name?"

Cole smirked as he swapped his elemental blade out for his golden scythe. "Name's Earth. Better not forget that either. That and you might wanna stand back Officer…" Cole paused, glancing at the name tag. "Nicholas. It is about to get pretty dangerous around here."

Jay flipped into their midst right then, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Random Surprise Lightning Strike!" With that said, he disappeared and reappeared behind everyone. Electricity shooting out everywhere, shocking the serpentine and Stone Warriors.

Zane whipped around, his eyes glowing softly. "Cutting Ice Blizzard!" Ice shot forward, covering the Overlord's lackeys.

Cole gulped as he realized that the enemy was still surging forward, which meant that it was his turn to use his special attack. Problem is that he doesn't know what his special move is. Closing his eyes, he reached deep inside to what felt like a lump of rock deep inside of him. "Shattering Earthquake Rumble!" The lump of rock inside of him suddenly melted away, sending another blinding flash of light through Cole. Cole was startled to realize that it didn't seem too bright, and was actually quite comforting. Opening his eyes, a gasp escaped him upon seeing that the earth had split open. Dust floated in the air, making it hard to see anything.

"Earth! We have to go! We still have chores to do…" Zane grabbed Cole by the arm, pulling him away from the disaster zone.

"Wait? Chores? Aren't you three old enough to be in boarding school?" Officer Nicholas questioned them, confusion crossing his face.

"Umm, we're…uh…home-schooled?" Jay shot Cole and Zane a look, uncertainty flashing in his eyes.

"Yes. What Lightning said. We are homeschooled." Zane jumped in, backing his brother up quickly.

"But the law clearly states the Test and Boarding schools…" Officer Nicholas spluttered, even as the three friends bolted for it, pausing just long enough to grab their other friends that were still watching everything.

…

Cole groaned as he wiped the last batch of bird poop off of the ship. "Done! Finally." Cole's stomach growled, signaling that it was time to eat. "Hmm, I wonder if Zane has finished dinner yet?" Leaping up, he flipped back onto the ship again. Landing in a low crouch, he headed towards the kitchen.

Delicious smells flooded the air, drawing Cole into the warm room. Zane nodded to him as he pulled a loaf of bread out of the oven. "Cole? Would you be so kind as to call the others in for dinner?"

Cole nodded as he walked over to the P.A. system. Pushing the on button, he spoke into it. "Guys! Time for dinner!"

"Ok!" "On my way!" "Give me a sec…ok done!" "Yes! Zane cooked dinner!"

Cole laughed as he stepped away to sit down at the table.

 **A/N: Done! Ok. I think is all. Poor officer Nicholas, here he is trying to find the ninja and they end up saving his life.**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	19. Chapter 18: Lloyd's B-day

**A/N: Hello! Ok, listen up. I haven't been updating because one: I've been at Disneyland, and two: I've been updating my other stories… soo sorry of I've been too long. I'll be disappearing again next week for a camping trip. (We're going to Redfish if I'm not mistaken…not entirely sure but that is a family favorite)**

 **Also I decided that Officer Nicholas will be a running gag.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Eighteen: Lloyd's Birthday

Cole groaned as he helped Zane and Jay rescue Officer Nicholas yet again. "Seriously, dude? This is the third time this _week_ we've had to rescue you… seriously. What are you being paid to do?"

Officer Nicholas blinked rapidly, a slight blush crossing his face. "Well…technically I'm being paid to stop crime. However I was assigned the Missing Students Case." He puffed his chest out in pride.

Zane blinked, peering curiously at him. "Missing Students Case? What is that?"

"I have to find the six students that the Serpentine took."

There was a loud thud as they promptly dropped the unsuspecting officer. Springing down, Jay quickly pulled him back to his feet. "Whoops! Sorry, we lost our grips back there. Totally did not drop you on purpose at all."

There was an echo of a slapping noise as both Zane and Cole slapped their foreheads. Cole gritted his teeth together as he glared at his best friend. "Lightning…we have to get going. We have a ton of homework…"

"One hour of mediation is not a lot of homework." Zane hissed into his ear, interrupting him.

Officer Nicholas stared at them, unable to hear what Zane was saying. Shaking his head, he turned to leave. "Right. Well, I need to go make a report about the Serpentine, Skeleton, and Stone Thingies combined attacks…."

"Stone Warriors." Cole, Jay, and Zane spoke in unison.

He blinked, confusion crossing his face. "Ok… look. I've got to get going. See you all later."

…

"Guys… I know you just got back…but today's someone's special day…" Lloyd twisted his fingers together nervously.

Kai shook his head, his eyes rolling upwards. "He's been going on about today being special all day and he won't explain it to Nya or me."

Zane quirked his left eyebrow up, peering at the younger boy. "What might be the special occasion…and for whom is it for?"

Lloyd bounced excitedly, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "It's my birthday! I'm eleven now!"

Silence fell amongst the friends, until quite suddenly; they all began running every which way. All the while yelling.

"Cake! We need cake!" "Presents! Why did he told us today instead of yesterday?!" "Decorations guys! We need decorations!" "Guys! We don't have ice cream! We can't have a party without ice cream!" "Location! Music! We need those too!"

Earth blinked as he stared at the panicking superheroes in training, before turning to face Energy. "I don't think we've ever made this big of a deal over someone's birthday before."

Energy rolled his eyes, a small smirk crossing his face. "Earth, you forget. Humans don't have as many birthdays as us, and they take them as a time to celebrate."

"Fine. You should probably figure something out to get him for his birthday." Earth rubbed his forehead.

"I'll get on it."

~With Officer Nicholas~

Officer Nicholas ran his fingers through his hair, exhaustion flooding him. The door opened as his superior walked in. Frowning, she ran a finger across the top of the extra chair in his office. "Nicholas…why is it that in your last ten reports you mentioned three brothers all old enough to be in boarding school that claim to be, I don't know… _home-schooled_?"

"Sorry sir. That is all I know. I probably can get more information out of them eventually. Right now, I'm puzzled about how they didn't know about the Missing Students Case when the entire world knows about it." Officer Nicholas continued filling out his paperwork.

"What?!" She spun around to glare at him, her eyes turning a bright red color briefly, before turning back to their original brown. Faux sweetly, she smiled at him. "I'll go see if there's any information anywhere about a family that typically doesn't know what's going on…and doesn't care for the Test."

"Bye sir." Officer Nicholas frowned, wondering if he had imagined her eyes changing colors.

~With Scales~

Scales gathered up the dirty dishes, not really caring that his wife placed him on dish duty. Slithering over to the sink, he looked out the window in time to see a familiar sight. A cloaked figure heading straight to the room that the Overlord's weaken form was hidden. A slender human girl moved away from her, heading for him. She had long midnight black hair with a blue hue, and hazel eyes that had a glint off red tint. Feet pounding the ground, she barged right into his house. "Hiya Scales!"

"Hello Sabrina. What is your mother up to this time?" Scales rolled his eyes, relaxing slightly in her presence.

"Something about needing to brag to Uncle about how she was right when she had that brilliant idea to possess the Chief Commander of the Police Force. What about you?" Sabrina flopped onto one of his kitchen chairs, boredom dancing in her eyes.

"Hmm, I'm doing the dishes and Selma recently laid an egg…" Scales faltered, panic starting to set in.

"Cool! You'll make a great father Scales."

"Sure…" Scales turned his back on her, concentrating on the dishes. His mind reeling at the thought that soon he will have an extra mouth to feed.

~Back with the Ninjas~

"Happy Birthday, kid!" Kai crowed as he shoved a chocolate cake that looked like it was baked and frosted by a two year old in the now eleven year old's face.

Lloyd blinked, wondering if he should have told them not to make a big deal about everything. Old newspapers were used to hurriedly wrap homemade gifts, and Zane's ice cream looked more like ice than ice cream. Forcing a smile, he accepted the cake. "Thanks guys…just umm, I thought Kai was allergic to chocolate?"

"I am…but we didn't have a recipe or any ingredients for any other kind of cake, soo, you get my piece!" Kai tried to sound upbeat about not having any cake, but was failing horribly.

"Ok… I actually have something for your guys to help me with." Lloyd fidgeted as he picked up the neatly wrapped packages that clearly had a lot of thought put in them.

"What do you need help with?" Cole questioned the kid.

"Well, it's kind of a family tradition to give everyone a present on our birthdays. I need help delivering my gifts to Uncle, Mom, and Dad." Lloyd tightened his grip on the packages.

Jay spoke up, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "I have just the plan for that!"

~With Sensei Wu~

Sensei Wu nodded towards Skylor as he approached the door. Why someone just rang the doorbell, he had no idea. Opening it, shock flooded him upon seeing that no one was there. However, three packages were sitting on the top step. Bending down, he picked them up to see who they were for. Multiple emotions erupted him as he read who they were for and whom they were from.

~Three Hours Later, News Broadcast~

"The youngest of the missing students as found a way to contact his family. Three packages appeared on their doorsteps on his birthday, addressed to them in his writing." The excited reporter reported, unaware that the TV she was on was being turned off by an exhausted, cake filled Lloyd.

 **A/N: Done! Took me awhile to write this…but hey! He's eleven now! Also if you read Look a Little Closer, yes it's the same Sabrina. I've fallen in love with her.**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	20. Chapter 19: Lloyd sneaks out

**A/N: Hello! Just as a warning, the plan is tomorrow to binge write chapters. Soo, yeah at least one chapter per story…and most of my stories are Ninjago. You're welcome. Now then, let's see here…uh we really need to get someone new out on the field, uh?**

 **Kai don't kill me…please?**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

 **One more thing…Happy Birthday Stormy!**

Chapter Nineteen: ?

Cole twisted around, knocking several serpentine away from Dareth. "Soo, any reason why you're here? Cause, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be at school."

Dareth opened and closed his mouth multiple times before finally sighing. "I have nothing to say. Except that they took one of my teachers."

"Which one?" Zane questioned as he calmly froze several of the serpentine in place.

"Misako Garmadon. She should be around here somewhere…."

 _Mom's gone? Guys! Get her out of there!_ Cole winced, rubbing his forehead. Why had energy thought it a good idea to tell them about the Guardians telepathical powers? Cole glanced sideways towards his two companions. "Did Energy contact you guys, or just me?"

Zane nodded an affirmative, before Jay spoke up. "Why do we talk aloud when we can talk to each other in our heads? I mean… what?"

Zane sighed, shaking his head at him. "Lightning… it is instinctual to talk aloud. That and our baby brother has a point. I believe I've heard somewhere on the news that she has a son about Energy's age."

Dareth blinked, confused about what their talking about. "You have a younger brother?"

Cole tilted his head. "And a younger sister. And one more brother. Ever heard of quadruplets? And two more after that and you have six kids that can telepathically communicate with each other."

"Ok…is this normal in your family? Wait. What's your parents names?"

"Powers! Spiritia!" They bolted farther into the camp, concentrating more on getting Misako out of there than the fact they never bothered thinking about what their supposed parents names were.

…

Cole crashed onto the couch, exhaustion flooding him. Misako had been quite determined to grill them about why the Test hadn't sent them to Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted. Groaning, he pulled the throw pillow over his face, trying to block out the sound of the video game Kai was playing.

"Long day, already?" Kai asked as he sat down the controller, glancing over at Cole.

"Yeah…and we haven't even rescued Officer Nicholas yet." Cole drily commented as he lowered the pillow to look at his friend.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lloyd barreled into the room, tackling Cole, his much smaller arms wrapping around him tightly. "You saved mom! Thank you soo much!"

Cole laughed as he hugged Lloyd back. "Anything for a friend kiddo."

~Back at the School~

Dareth tapped his foot as he waited for Officer Nicholas as patiently as possible. Well, as patiently as possible when he was sure he knew where they were at. And it wasn't one of the serpentine's strongholds like everyone thought it was.

Officer Nicholas drove up, his beat up police car coasting into a stop next to the school bus. Climbing out, he turned to face Sensei Wu. "I really hope you found a clue while rescuing your sister-in-law."

Sensei Wu sighed, falling into step with him. "I'm afraid not. Dareth? Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

Dareth scratched his head, before responding. "Well yes but I thought Officer Nicholas would like to know that…"

"Not now. I need to find your missing schoolmates." Officer Nicholas brushed him off as he walked past him.

"But the three kids that are helping us save Ninjago told me that there's three more. Four of them are the same age and are all male, while the last two is one girl and one boy…and the boy is Lloyd's age." Dareth pointed out, figuring that Officer Nicholas would connect the dots the same way he did.

"Soo, I am looking for a family of eight? Got it. Thanks kid."

Dareth whacked his forehead, wondering how dense he could be.

~Back on the _Bounty_ , few hours later~

"Lloyd? Lloyd? Come on. This isn't funny. It's your turn to do the dishes and you know it!" Kai called as he prowled the hallways on the ship, searching for the youngest person on board.

Lloyd's laughter caught his attention, coming from one of the hallway closets. Groaning, Kai flung the closet open. "Come on kid, you're gonna get in soo much…" Kai looked at Lloyd and felt his voice die away. "trouble. Oh come on! Seriously?!" Lloyd smirked from behind his bright green and gold ninja gi's mask, proud as a peacock that he had figured out how to transform before Kai. "You still can't join the others on the field."

Lloyd rolled his eyes skyward, frustration building up inside of him. "You mean that they still aren't back from that second emergency?"

"Nope. Why are you asking…?" Kai looked at Lloyd warily.

"Nothing!" Lloyd rushed into the kitchen so as to do his chore.

~Few Minutes later, with Officer Nicholas~

"We were wondering if you would need rescuing today!" Jay cheerfully announced as he pulled Officer Nicholas out of the ropes that were binding him to the chair.

Officer Nicholas rolled his eyes as he hauled himself back to his feet. "Are your brothers here?"

Jay nodded, even as he calmly tuned out Kai's complaints about something…he wasn't sure what it was this time. Zane suddenly sliced through their connection. _Wait…Lloyd did what now!?_

Jay grimaced, before blocking everyone out. Cole was singing random songs anyways. "We need to get going…Energy?!" The last part was because Lloyd showed up right then, still in his green gi.

"Hi Lightning! Before you ask…Fire and Water both know I'm here!" Lloyd bounced on his feet, excitement dancing in his eyes.

"Soo, if I ask them about it they'll say that they know and nothing about you sneaking off the ship?"

"Or you could not ask and it's a win-win situation all around." Lloyd crossed his fingers behind his back.

Jay sucked in a breath, before yelling across the encampment. "Ice! Earth! Energy snuck out _again_!"

"Seriously?!"

 **A/N: Done!**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	21. Chapter 20: Officer Nicholas knows

**A/N: Hello! Hmmm, Nya's turn to join the battle. No…I haven't forgotten Kai. I just know what order you are expecting me to do things in and I am purposely doing the opposite. That and its fun making Kai wait his turn.**

 **Kai: Well I'm not having fun.**

 **Me: Deal with it. Now then, I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Twenty: Officer Nicholas is a wonderful ally…

Cole slipped into the bridge, his feet softly padding along the wooden floor. Pausing at the phone, he lifted it off its hook. Biting his bottom lip, he reached to dial the number he memorized so many years ago. Freezing, he glanced back as if asking for help.

Earth, who had followed him into the room, promptly slapped his forehead. "Cole! Just call him already!"

Cole gulped, punching the keypad buttons quickly. Placing the phone by his ear, he listened to the ring tone that meant the line he was calling was still operational. After several minutes, there was a soft click as someone answered the phone on the other side. _"Hello?"_

"Dad? It…It's me. Cole. Umm, happy birthday. Sorry, I didn't get you anything this year…" Cole broke off when Lou suddenly burst out laughing.

" _Cole? Where are you? Is there anyone with you right now?"_

Cole frowned, glancing over at Earth, who responded with a shrug. "Umm, yeah there is one other with me. He's one of the guys that ya know…is in charge. But enough about me. What's been going on with you?"

~With Lou~

Lou cradled his cell phone, glancing at the scrambling officers who were trying to locate where the unknown number was coming from. One of the officers mouthed happy birthday to him. "Cole, son. Look, I'm really more worried about you than myself right now. And nothing is going on other than the fact Jo Anna is financially stable again. Cole? Where are you?"

Officer Nicholas nodded in agreement. If there was a chance that they knew where they were taken… _"Oh…we're headed to the beach today. Nya already has been talking about throwing Kai into the ocean. Oh! And Lloyd's been talking about making sand castles with Jay. Not sure what's Zane's plan for when we get there, though. Me? I'm gonna just chillax in the sun."_

Lou arched his eyebrow up, suddenly confused. "Cole…are you sure you'll be allowed outside of their Headquarters?"

" _Oh sure. We leave all the time. Sometimes we get kicked out temporarily and other times we all go out and do something. Just last week we went camping. Bad idea with Lloyd though. He, uh, Didn't like it at all, to say the least."_

Lou opened his mouth to speak again, only for Cole to suddenly squeal as a loud voice suddenly hollered from somewhere behind him. _"Cole! Come on! We've landed! The beach awaits!"_ Cole promptly hollered, and what he said caused Officer Nicholas to go pale quickly. _"Ok! I'm coming Energy…Eesh. You're acting like you and Lloyd broke into the sugar dish again…oh no! You DID break into the sugar dish! Hold on a sec…bye dad! See you when I get back, whenever that happens. Earth! Tell Energy to…"_ Cole must have hung up the phone since the line went dead right then.

Lou spun around to look at the officers, one of them shaking his head at him. Officer Nicholas rubbed his forehead, his voice low…and mad. "I have some… _friends_ …that might be able to figure this whole thing out. Hopefully."

~Back with the Ninjas~

Cole stretched out on his beach towel, placing his hands behind his head, a satisfied sigh escaping him. Zane apparently wanted to join Jay and Lloyd with making their sandcastle due to the fact he had never made one before. Nya was making good progress on her threat, already Kai was soaked through…and splashing her back. Of course the peace couldn't last forever.

"GUYS!" Energy zipped hyperactively through the air above them. "Serpentine spotted with skeletons and Stone Warriors! And yes, Officer Nicholas is already there. Now go! He needs saving again!"

"Seriously?" Cole arched his eyebrow upwards in surprise, before turning to Earth. "I refuse by the Earth I'm standing on to let anything happen to them!" With a soft whoosh of air, Earth was sucked into his pendant.

Zane stood up, brushing sand of off his swimsuit. "Everything is as clear as Ice!"

Jay gulped, before saying his trigger. "Sometimes it's good to be as unpredictable as Lightning!"

Lloyd bounced as he opened his mouth. Only for Nya to cut him off. "Oh no you don't. As long as Water is beautiful and dangerous, I won't let you do something that might end with you injured or worse." Nya was soo busy concentrating on what she was saying to the youngest Ninja that she didn't notice that she had transformed.

"Umm, Nya?" Nya turned to face Kai, who promptly told her good luck. That was when realization dawned on her. Squealing, she darted off to go fight the villains…by herself.

"Nya! Wait up!" Feet pounding the hot sand, the four transformed ninjas, no one knows when Lloyd transformed; they gave chase.

…

Officer Nicholas exploded the second they pulled him out of the ropes that were keeping him from escaping. "Are you against the serpentine or working for them?!"

"Wait…what? Dude, what makes you think we're working for them? You do realize that we're talking about the same guys that kidnapped us in front of our teacher and classmates…right?" Cole frowned, his eyebrow quirking upwards.

Officer Nicholas blinked, suddenly confused. "What do you mean by they kidnapped you?"

Cole glanced over at his friends, silently questioning whether or not to tell Officer Nicholas the truth. Lloyd made the answer to his question rather obvious. "You remember the uh, six students you've been tasked with finding?" Officer Nicholas nodded in confirmation. Lloyd scratched the back of his neck, a nervous laugh escaping him. "Well…you see, you're looking at them. Long story short. Our powers are too strong for us to have them inside of us twenty four seven and umm, yeah…we have personalized powers."

Officer Nicholas turned to stare at each of them. Realizing that he didn't believe them, they briefly pulled their hoods down. Yanking them back up, Cole spoke up. "Yeah…if we look like this that just means that we're at full power. Umm, can you please keep quiet about this though? Really don't need Dad to freak out more than he already is."

Officer Nicholas nodded, before suddenly remembering something else. "Wait… where's Kai? And his power?"

Nya shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets…something that the others didn't have. "He hasn't figured out how to go full power yet. Until then…it's just us. Oh. My codename is Water."

Officer Nicholas nodded again. "So, let me guess. He's the one who've been referring to as Fire?"

"Yep." "Of course." "That sounds correct." "Who else?" "Know anyone else that was with us?"

Officer Nicholas sighed, pinching his nose. Did they have to say different things at the exact same time?

…

Officer Nicholas had to admit the flying ship made total sense…with the whole moving headquarters and the signal coming from the strangest places. Of course the tour just made him more lost. Rubbing his head, he stared at the complex computer set up in the bridge. "You say that the computer system in here allows you to, uh, control everything on the ship…make it fly…and it alerts you about various serpentine, skeleton and Stone Warrior sightings?"

"Yup. Any questions?" Kai leaned against a holo-desk, cradling a mug of hot cider.

Nya rolled her eyes as she sipped her peppermint hot chocolate. "Ignore Kai. He doesn't know what half the stuff in here does."

"Okay then…" Officer Nicholas decided to just keep quiet and sip at the hot chocolate that he made with their instant hot chocolate machine….which does hot cider too for Kai.

Thunder crashed from outside the window as they laughed, ignoring the police officer's pure confusion, and Kai's protests that he did know what he was doing thank you very much.

 **A/N: Done! Ok, so Officer Nicholas now knows and has promised to not tell anyone. Uh, that's all for today…**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	22. Chapter 21: Dareth comes up with a plan

**A/N: Hello! Soo, I need to get Kai out on the field…and have Officer Nicholas realize that, uh, Dareth tried telling him that the six missing students and the mysterious sibling group are one and the same. And this apple gives me the most brilliant idea about how to do that!**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs! And my apple. I do not own the song!**

Chapter Twenty-one: Apples are a wonderful breakfast…and ammo

Officer Nicholas walked into the flying ship's kitchen, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes. Cole was eating a bowl of cereal while reading the box, Earth hovering behind him, while Jay was slathering butter on a piece of toast, with Lightning zipping around the room. Lloyd and Nya were nibbling on leftover apple pie while their spiritia whispered to each other. Zane and Ice were mediating at the table, unaware of anything going on. Kai and Fire were rummaging through the fridge looking for something to eat.

"Morning everyone." Officer Nicholas dropped the newspaper he was carrying onto the table.

"Morning Officer Nicholas." Kai stepped out of the fridge, snapping it shut while taking a bite out of an apple.

Hums of agreement rose up from the other not at all missing students. Nodding his head towards them, Officer Nicholas pulled a chair out, sitting down…even as the doorbell suddenly rang out. Startled, he snapped his head up to look towards the door, trying to figure out who could possibly be here. Everyone who knew about the flying ship was in the kitchen; it didn't make any sense for someone to be at the door.

Kai, still holding his apple, promptly spoke up. "I'll go check to see what that was." With that, Kai and Fire left the room.

Nya spoke up, a tiny smile on her face. "Guys…we have a couple of birthdays coming up…"

Jay rubbed his forehead, shooting Cole and Zane a really look. "I still can't believe that you three have birthdays that close to each other."

Zane cleared his throat. "Do you need Cole and I to leave so as to plan our big day without us in the way?"

"Nope." Nya had barely told him to stay, when a loud thud echoed through the ship, followed by a familiar voice crying out suddenly.

~With Kai~

Kai opened the front door to find…Dareth standing there looking around as if amazed by what he is seeing. "Dareth?!"

Dareth snapped his head back to look at him, a huge grin flashing across his face. "Hey Kai! Nice place you have here."

Kai did the only thing that made sense to him; he threw his apple right at the older boy. A loud thud echoed through the place as it connected with his forehead, an equaling loud yelp escaped Dareth has he stumbled backwards, reaching up to catch the apple. Holding it out to Kai, he smiled again. "I think you dropped this."

 _Kai! What happened!? We heard a thud and what sounded like Dareth yelping._ Cole demanded through the mental link that all of them had.

Kai grimaced as he responded back. _That's because you did. Dareth is here and I threw my apple at him…either he honestly thinks that I 'dropped' it by mistake…or he is ignoring what just happened._ "Dareth? How about you come on in and join us."

"Sweet! Can I get a tour of this place too? You guys did an awesome job with it." Dareth strolled into the place as if this was totally normal.

"Dareth…you really need to explain yourself here."

…

Officer Nicholas arched an eyebrow at the sight of their classmate casually sitting down in one of the chairs. Dareth beamed at everyone as he placed his hands behind the back of his head. "Hey guys! What's up? Besides the sky…the ceiling…the ship…the sun, well I guess you can't really see the sun today so it would be the clouds."

Nya folded her arms, eyebrow shooting upwards. "Dareth…why are you here…for that matter, how did you know to look for a flying ship? The only way for you to figure that out is if you somehow figured out that we had escaped and that the mysterious sibling group was us?"

"That's because I did! I _tried_ telling Officer Nicholas here that the guys that kept saving him were you but he wouldn't listen!" Dareth shot the police officer an _I-told-you-so_ look.

Officer Nicholas promptly raised his hands in the air in surrender. Lloyd helped himself to another slice of pie, interest dancing in his eyes. "Soo, why are you here?"

"Umm, the entire school was overran by skeletons, serpentine, and those Stone Warrior thingies. We need help. Particularly seeing as uh, your boss appears to be on their side. She won't do anything to help us at all." Dareth pointed to Officer Nicholas.

A frown crossed his face as he recalled seeing her eyes turn colors. Lifting a hand up, he pulled his badge off. "From now until this whole mess is over with, I am off duty by order of me. You all can call me Nick. Since that's my name…Nick Nicholas."

"Wow…you're parents were creative." Jay commented as he finally starting eating his toast.

"We need a plan… any ideas?" Lloyd asked the others, ignoring Dareth.

Dareth tapped his fingers together. "I think that I know what's Kai's phrase he needs to say to transform…and you do realize that you each have a pet bird…and are connected to the dragons, right?"

"First part, yes. The second part not at all." Kai folded his arms, wondering why Dareth was suddenly proving to have a brain in his head.

"Also…did you know that the serpentine are looking for a band to play for them?" Dareth smirked, even as what he was suggesting hit the others rather quickly.

…

"Can you sssssix even play?" Pythor turned his nose up as he eyed the six supposed siblings that were standing in front of him.

Kai and his friends had tucked their pendants into their shirts again, and were dressed like a barber quartet. Matching black wigs were under their hats, their respective instruments in their hands. Cole spoke up in his slightly modified voice. "Of course! Or my name isn't Twinkle Toes! Do I need to tell you all of our names again, or did you get it?"

Pythor pinched his nose. "I got it. Twinkle Toessss, Mouth of Lightning, Hothead, Sssssamurai X, Nindroid, and I believe you ssssaid that the little one issss…Greenie?"

Kai tilted his head to the side, a goofy grin crossing his face. "Hey look…someone actually got our names down. That's new. Most people just look at us all funny like every time we tell them our names."

Pythor rolled his eyes, before pointing to the room that used to be where the music lessons for the Random classes were held. "Set up in there. Please note that there are already quite a few bands in there already…including the Royal Blacksmiths."

Cole curled his fingers into a fist upon hearing that his father and his quartet was there already. Then again, apparently loosing the school and everything caused all of Ninjago to surrender immediately. And the real threat hadn't even arrived yet. A brown cat padded along next to them, seemingly weaving amongst them.

The second they were in the class room, they dropped their instruments into a heap and turned to the cat. Clearing its throat as if it were a person, it suddenly spoke in Dareth's voice. "Ok…the mailman should be here with our order of apples soon. Everyone remember the plan?"

All six heads nodded firmly in acknowledgement. Dareth the cat nodded, before titling his head to the instruments. "Better at least act like you are practicing."

With that, they pulled out their instruments and began playing. Nya then began to sing quietly. " **Can you see me?  
'Cause I'm right here  
Can you listen?  
'Cause I've been trying to make you notice  
What it would mean to me  
To feel like somebody  
We've been on our way to nowhere  
Tryin' so hard to get there**

 **And I say, oh  
We're gonna let it show  
We're gonna just let go of everything  
Holding back our dreams  
And try to make it come alive  
Come on let it shine so they can see  
We were meant to be  
Somebody (somebody)  
Somebody, yeah (somebody)  
Somehow  
Someday  
Someway  
Somebody**

 **I'm so tired  
Of being invisible  
But I feel it, yeah  
Like a fire below the surface  
Trying to set me free  
Burnin' inside of me  
'Cause we're standing on the edge now  
It's a long way down**

 **But I say  
Oh, we're gonna let it show  
We're gonna just let go of everything  
Holding back our dreams  
And try to make it come alive  
Come on let it shine so they can see  
We were meant to be  
Somebody (somebody)  
Somebody, yeah (somebody)  
Somehow  
Someday  
Someway  
Somebody**

 **We will walk out of this darkness  
Feel the spotlight glowing like a yellow sun  
Oh oh oh oh oh and when we fall we fall together  
Till we get back up and we will rise as one, oh, oh ,oh**

 **Oh, we're gonna let it show  
We're gonna just let go of everything  
Holding back our dreams  
And try to make it come alive  
Come on let it shine so they can see  
We were meant to be  
Somebody (somebody)  
Somebody, yeah (somebody)  
Somehow  
Someday  
Someway  
Somebody  
Somebody  
Ooh ohh oh**"

Just as they finished the song, the doorbell rang…only this time it wasn't a band this time. At least by what Pythor was bellowing it wasn't. "I didn't order one hundred cratesss of applesss!"

"Uh…looks like our apples are here." Jay cheerfully announced.

 **A/N: Done! Hmm, looks like I am actually almost done with this story. Did not see that coming. Also…why did they order soo many apples?!**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	23. Chapter 22: Someone's in trouble

**A/N: Hello! Hmm, time to locate the others…and Cole blows their cover by accident. Oops. *shrugs calmly* Nothing to do about it…he really shouldn't have told Lou that his name is Twinkle Toes.**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Twenty-two: Time to Orchestrate a Jailbreak!

Cole smiled sheepishly as Pythor as he took all one hundred crates of apples into the music room. "Soo sorry…you see, we're all…uh, highly allergic to everything…except for apples…isn't that right guys?"

Kai, Zane, Nya and Jay all nodded their heads frantically, while mentally questioning Cole's logic. _Seriously? Highly allergic to everything except for apples? Couldn't you have just said that we REALLY like our apples?_ Cole rolled his eyes at them, making sure that no one else could see it.

Pythor left the room, his tail twitching with annoyance. Kai leaned forward and ever so casually whacked him in the back of the head. Yelping, Cole whipped around to glare at his friend. In the back of his head, he could hear Lloyd laughing at them. Just then, Zane tilted his head towards a group of teenagers that were whispering to each other. Confused, Cole glanced over and felt his heart skip a beat. It was Jones and a few others from his boarding school.

Hurrying over, Cole seized his oldest friend by the arm and dragged him over to where Lou was practicing. "Stay here…keep each other safe."

Jones folded his arms, a scowl on his face. "And who are you to tell us what to do?"

Cole rolled his eyes as he pulled his hat down farther on his head. "Name's Twinkle Toes…now if you will please excuse me…but I've got to get back to my band."

Lou grabbed Cole's arm as the teen made to leave. "Cole?"

Cole froze, confusion crossing his face as he looked back at his father. "No…Twinkle Toes."

"Cole, I was at the Radio Conference thing that you called…using _**THAT**_ name! I know it's you!" Lou hissed, eyes narrowing.

Cole looked at his father for five seconds, before yelling across the room. "Kai! Next time you make up the names!"

Kai burst out laughing, as if he found everything hilarious. Nya merely attacked her brother, causing him to tackle her back. Zane and Jay watched the fight happen with slightly amused expressions.

Cole wiggled his arm free; shooting the two he really wanted away from here a look. "I'm being serious here. No one has seen _who_ it is that these guys work for it…and once he's strong enough to come out of hiding… nowhere will be safe."

 _Guys…Skylor is concerned about our plan._ Lloyd's voice suddenly interrupted Cole's warning.

~With Dareth, back up to middle of the song in the last chapter~

Dareth wrinkled his nose as he changed himself into a brown mouse, quickly slipping through a tiny mouse hole that lead into the staff room that held all of the student body and staff. Popping out of the wall, he changed back into his normal, human form. Glancing over at the door which had a small window, Dareth noted that Skylor was standing closest to the door. "Skylor…you're going to want to move, like right now. Everyone away from the door…and knowing his aim, make sure you have to glance sideways to see the door. As in sides…now!" Dareth pulled his best friend away from the door. Two seconds later a bright red apple crashed through the window and landed with a thud on the clear other side of the room, where is hit Garmadon in the forehead.

Yelping, Garmadon picked the apple up to stare at it, before looking at Dareth. Shrugging nonchalantly, Dareth reached through the broken glass and unlocked the door. Skylor gave him a seriously look as the door opened…to reveal a grinning Lloyd standing on the other side bouncing two more apples in his hands. His wig and hat had been lost somewhere on the way, allowing his blonde hair to stick up everywhere. Misako rushed over to her son and immediately began an attempt to tame his wild mane.

"Mom!" Lloyd wiggled away from his mother.

Skylor arched her eyebrow upwards as she looked between Dareth and Lloyd. "We sent you to et help…and you come back with the kid?"

Lloyd spoke up, still bouncing as he pocketed his apples. "Don't forget the others!"

Sensei Wu blinked, confusion crossing his face. "What others?"

Lloyd shrugged nonchalantly as he looked down at his sneakers. "You know…Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai…Nya is trying to kill him right now though…"

Dareth pinched his nose, exasperation flooding his features. "Lloyd… do I want to know how you know that? And I still don't get why you have to break the window so that I can open it from the inside and not just unlock the door."

Skylor tilted her head, staring at the young kid. "Soo, what I am hearing is that you wanted to throw apples at glass?"

"Yep…now if you'll excuse me, I'm not for a competition against the others." Lloyd spun around and walked off as if everything was fine and the entire world was not in danger.

Skylor turned to face Dareth, her eyebrows inching upwards again. Dareth quickly shot his hands into the air, panic crossing his face. "Don't look at me. Apparently they rescued themselves…oh I don't know… the day after they were taken?"

Lloyd eagerly nodded his head in agreement as he scurried off to who-knows-where. _Guys…Skylor is concerned about our plan._

 _Tell her that it is a miracle that we even have one._ Cole calmly told him through their link.

Lloyd glanced back to see everyone following him, his family's faces grim. _I don't think that really necessary…also we all might be in trouble cause Dareth told them that we were ditching school._

Lloyd winced as a rather loud explosion of what erupted in his head. Everyone talking at once in their minds was a fast way to get a headache.

~Meanwhile with Officer Nick Nicholas~

Officer Nicholas followed his boss down the questionable street…straight to an underground passageway that he didn't even know about. Ducking behind a dumpster, he watched as she looked around for unwanted shadows, before pushing a heavy looking door open. "Sabrina! Get down here **NOW**!"

A frown crossed his face, before he slipped away to find another way in. After several minutes looking, a window right above him suddenly opened. "Up here…quick before Mom and Uncle realize that I'm helping you."

Surprised, he looked up to see Sabrina leaning out the window, offering him her hand. Taking it, he allowed her to help him up and over the window ledge. "Thank you. Now, may I ask what your name is?"

"Sabrina. In case you haven't figured it out, my mother has possessed your boss and is using her to get her own way…that's just confusing. Do you understand what I am telling you?" Sabrina frowned flicking her hair out of the way.

Officer Nicholas frowned as he nodded in confirmation. "My boss isn't my boss. It's your mother disguised as my boss…and I take it she's one of the bad guys?"

"One of them?" Sabrina burst out laughing as if she found his question hilarious. "Sorry to burst your bubble there Nick Nicholas, but she's not one of them…she's the second in command here."

Sweat beaded his forehead as he realized what that entailed. "Who's the first?"

"My uncle, her brother to be more precise." Sabrina smiled warmly at him as if she wasn't making him all the more scared.

"The way you worded things earlier sounded as if he were in here as well…"

Sabrina stood up and started walking down the hall. "That's because he is. Good luck." With that said she turned the corner and vanished from sight.

 **A/N: Done! Next stop…FINAL BATTLE! Also, Sabrina made another appearance. This story its more obvious that she's one of the good guys, the story I had originally made her for it's a little harder to tell at times. (She's crazy…that's all I'm going to say)**

 **Review!**

 **SkyTalon**


	24. Chapter 23: I don't believe you

**A/N: Hello! I feel like my writing has improved some so I might try rewriting some old stories to see if I can't get them better. Please enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for my OCs!**

Chapter Twenty-Three: Final Battle…Begin! Wait…this isn't a contest!

Cole began filling his pockets with apples, ignoring the weird looks everyone was giving him…except for his friends. They were busy doing the same thing…though Kai was still annoyed that Nya didn't like his finding Cole's situation funny at all. Zane snapped his head up, excitement dancing in his eyes. "Chayton! You're here!" The falcon swooped into the room, landing on Zane's extended arm.

Jay perked up, lifting his hand up for Teal to land on. "Teal! How was your flight here?"

Kai and Nya both already had their respective birds perched on their shoulders, gently stroking them. Calli and Phoenix nuzzled their cheeks, making happy noises while at it. Cole looked around the room, before turning to face Zane. "Manu is on my head…isn't he?"

Zane glanced up at Cole's head, a small smile crossing his face. "And sound asleep."

Cole groaned, before pulling the owl off his head. "Of course… he likes sleeping on my head." Cradling Manu in his arms, he continued, his fingers stroking his soft feathers. "Are the dragons in position yet?"

"No idea. Should we ask Lloyd to ask Dareth?" Kai asked as he tilted his head to the side.

"Part of me wants to say no…but part of me suspects that you are already asking him." Cole rolled his eyes at his impatient friend.

"Yeah…Dareth told him not yet."

~With Lloyd~

"Hey, Lloyd? How did you know Kai was wondering about that?" Skylor asked as she looked around for potential ambushes.

Lloyd frowned, picking up a slight movement up ahead. "We're all telepathically connected to each other. Why are you asking?"

"Umm…no reason, Agh!" The last part was because several serpentine popped out of nowhere.

Misako gasped as she stared at them, horror flooding her. Lloyd grinned as he pulled out his apples. "Let the games begin!" As he yelled this, the door to the music room, which was right behind the serpentine sprang open, the rest of the gang standing in its doorways. All of them had birds perched on their shoulders, and apples in their hands.

Flinging their apples at the serpentine as hard as they could, they leapt feet first into the fight. Kai smirked as he caught his apple on fire, throwing it has hard as he could. The serpentine that caught it with his face screeched as he tumbled backwards. Kai punched the air in victory. "Sweet! Three points in one shot!"

Jay flung an apple at two of them, easily taking them out… possibly due to the fact it was crackling with lightning. "Ha! Take that! Six points in one move for the one and only Jay Walker!"

Zane froze his apples before flinging them. A satisfied smile crossed his face as three of the serpentine fell over. "I believe that is nine points for me."

Nya concentrated hard, soaking her apple. Flinging it, she grinned as the water sprayed all over the floor. The serpentine it hit slammed hard onto the floor, while six others slipped on her watery puddle, falling down to the floor. "Sorry Zane, I believe that I am in the lead, since I just scored twenty-seven points at once."

Cole threw his apples, knocking four down. "Twelve points for me. How are you doing, kiddo?"

Lloyd flung his single apple towards the only serpentine with a tail. The apple slammed into the serpentine, right before it exploded, throwing twenty serpentine into the farthest wall. "Hmm, that would be sixty normal points…plus the twenty points for a general… seventy points total for me. Why do you ask?" Lloyd suddenly tilted his head, staring at a Gold Eagle that just showed up. "Hey, look who decided to show up. You're late Arnett." The gold eagle merely screeched happily as he landed on his shoulders.

Just then, there was a loud rumbling before every single stone warrior, skeleton, and serpentine charged into the room. Jay punched the air as he promptly hollered loudly. "Bonus round! Go!"

With that said; they quickly dragged out all of the crates of apples and began throwing them like crazy. After awhile, Jay snapped his fingers and began spinning quickly, turning himself into a blue tornado. Grinning, the others quickly did the same thing, though each one was a different color. Kai was red, while Zane was white. Cole was black, and Lloyd was green. Nya was a dark maroon color. The apples were sucked out of their crates, and began pummeling the enemy like crazy.

Yelps could be heard as the various enemies were flung around and pummeled as if they were nothing more than target practice. Cole spun to a stop a smirk on his face. "One hundred and thirty-three points!"

Zane stopped as well, smiling as he turned to look at Cole. "Three hundred and sixty-four points."

Kai nudged Zane out of the way, quickly speaking up. "Try five hundred and ninety-two points."

Nya slung her arms around his shoulders. "Nice try brother dear, seven hundred and ninety-nine points."

Jay bounced over to them, a huge smile on his face. "I'm losing aren't I? I have one hundred and twenty-nine points."

Lloyd stopped spinning, scratching the back of his neck. "Umm, I have ten hundred thousand, five hundred and twenty-six points."

Dareth groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Guys…it's not a competition!"

"It isn't? Since when?" They crowed back in unison.

Thuds could be heard as everyone that wasn't one of the six slapped their foreheads. Kai glanced back at the others, his face suddenly grim, all joking gone. "We need to get going…the Overlord should be here soon to see why all of his minions are unconscious."

Nods of agreement rippled through the friends…right before everyone realized that they had changed outfits. Instead of the matching barber outfits, they were all now wearing their respective ninja gis, Kai's was a bright red one. Breaking at a sprint, they bolted outside, their birds flying on ahead.

Rocky, Flames, Shard, Wisp, and a not so little Brooke and Greenie were standing outside waiting for them. Leaping onto their dragons backs, they began communicating to each other.

 _You all have to be a distraction…can't let him near me until it's too late._

 _Got it!_

 _Why are we doing it this way again? You could get hurt!_

 _Be careful…what you're doing is far more dangerous than us._

 _Time to freeze him in his tracks!_

 _Haha! That was a good one, Zane!_

 _Jay!_

 _Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Keep his attention off of the kid. I totally have this!_

Kai suddenly snapped forward, knocking Jay and Wisp out of the way of a ball of Dark Matter. Zane and Cole nudged Rocky and Shard into action, firing at the large, dark purple dragon thing that was in the midst of tearing up all of Ninjago City. Nya swooped in from the left, Brooke slamming into it before quickly flying away before it could hurt her.

The Overlord screeched loudly…and was promptly answered by another roar. All five of their faces paled as a dark pink dragon-like creature with black stripes surged out from behind one of the buildings. _Guys….there are two of them!_

"Noted! Everyone converge together and watch each other's backs!" Cole barked out, quickly guiding Rocky into a three-sixty circle.

Blasts flew everywhere as the five friends fought against the two creatures, drawing their attention away from a single, extra tall skyscraper. The Overlord and his sister moved around so that their backs were turned to the building that they wanted them to stay away from.

Zane suddenly spoke up, his voice filled with humor. "Earth, Ice, Lightning, Fire, Energy, aaaannnddd, WATER!" At the end of the strange countdown, an extra loud explosion ripped through the air, destroying both of the evil entities.

Lloyd and Greenie slipped into their places, smiles on their faces. "Soo, that all just happened. Anyone up to ice cream?"

~Fifty-three years later~

"…And that is the story of how I know your grandfather." Ice beamed as he looked down at a disbelieving teen girl. Her silvery blonde hair was pulled back in a French braid which was wrapped around the top of her head. Her icy blue eyes were staring at him as if he were insane, her arms crossed over her purple sundress.

"I have a hard time believing that Grandfather did all of that." She lifted one hand up to fiddle with Zane's pendant, which hung around her neck.

"You are the one that asked how I met him." Ice calmly pointed out.

"No…I asked which school he went to. I need to sign up for the entrance exams if I want to go to one of the boarding schools instead of a public school." She grumbled under her breath.

"Oh…well now you know! He went to Sensei Wu's Monastery For the Gifted!" Ice cheerfully announced.

She narrowed her eyes, not finding that very helpful. "Ice…that school burned down during the Second Serpentine War."

Ice blinked rapidly. "Oh… what was the new school built for it again?"

"There isn't one. With the Test removed from the law and things, it didn't really make sense to keep that one around. Most of those boarding schools you mentioned are gone." She paused, exasperation on her face. "And by that I mean they were either torn down or changed so that they don't specialize in anything. Except for that one school you mentioned. Seeing as I have two left feet though, I don't think Marty Oppenheimer's school of Performing Arts is the one for me." She fiddled some more with the pendant.

"Sorry Zelda. I am afraid I am not being much help here. Maybe you should go ask one of your parents for help." Ice apologized, sincerity dancing in his eyes.

Zelda sighed, before turning around to face the long hiking path that leads back to the nearest village. "Great…wait. Didn't you say in your story that Uncle Cole was positive that Grandpa Lou would never marry Grandma Jo Anna?"

Ice sniggered as he realized what it was she was hinting at. "Yes, well he was wrong about that. Six kids are rather a lot to handle…by the way, how is Isabella doing?"

Zelda smiled as she thought of her youngest 'aunt', the only child that Cole's father and stepmother had together. "She's doing fine. Just finished getting her doctorate."

Ice smiled, suddenly glad that it had been years since everything had happened. Peace truthfully looked good in Ninjago.

 **A/N: Done! Yeah, the spiritia are all knowing so the whole thing was Ice talking to Zane's granddaughter. Also, I decided to have Lou and Mrs. Jones get married and have a kid of their own.**

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 **SkyTalon**


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